Centre's fourth interlocutor since 2001, who is Dineshwar Sharma?

JAMMU: As the state of Jammu and Kashmir struggled to emerge out of the madness of heightened militancy of 1990s, the need for dialogue started taking primacy with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee taking keen interest in breakthrough.
There were several backchannel and short shrift dialogues across 1990s but never a comprehensive process till 2001 when Prime Minister Vajpayee announced Planning Commission Deputy Chairman KC Pant as special representative to hold dialogue will all shades of option, almost on the similar lines as Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced the process and the person today.
A seasoned politician, Pant carried on a comprehensive process but in the meanwhile the ruling National Conference zeroed in on the autonomy formula which had already been rejected by the Centre. To keep the process afloat, Prime Minister Vajpayee tried to assuage National Conference sentiments by naming the then Law Minister Arun Jaitley as Centre's representative to hold autonomy specific talks with Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference announced senior-most Cabinet Minister Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah as its point-man to talk to Jaitley. The Vajpayee government lost vote in 2004 and Shah passed away the same year. There is no public knowledge of what transpired between the two on autonomy.
In November 2003, the KC Pant mission came to an abrupt end when Vajpayee government announced former Home Secretary NN Vohra as the new Kashmir interlocutor. Vohra carried the mission forward. After the change of guard a year later at the Centre the Manmohan Singh government reposed trust in Vohra and asked him to continue in the position. The Vigyan Bhawan at New Delhi, where Vohra had set up the secretariat, saw a lot of activity for next four years.
In June 2008, NN Vohra joined at Kashmir Raj Bhawan to succeed the then controversial SK Sinha in the middle of Amrnath land row. Vohra's role as interlocutor and his level of understanding by way of the latest position he had held must have helped him douse the flames in Kashmir during Amarnath land row crisis, but finding of his mission as interlocutor are yet to be known.
The third such mission was led by a panel of interlocutors comprising journalist Dileep Padgonkar, academic Radha Kumar and former Information Commissioner MM Ansari. They were named in the middle of the worst known 2010 summer crisis.
The Padgaonkar led panel of interlocutors was exceptional in terms of having been able to write a report and submit that to the Home Ministry. But the government of India never owned the contents of the report.
Dineshwar Sharma is the fourth such interlocutor in close to two decades whose appointment inspires a lot of interest. Sharma was first in Kashmir in 1992 as a young officer in the Intelligence Bureau. He was 36 then and arrived after after completing a year of customary training at the Intelligence Bureau headquarters in New Delhi.
The Kerala-cadre officer, who was posted as assistant director between 1992 to 1994, went on to head the IB from 2014 to 2016. "It's like homecoming for me. I am sure that I will be able to fulfil the expectations of the government and people of the country," Sharma said soon after Home Minister Rajnath Singh named as Centre's special representative on Kashmir. An important point to note is that Dineshwar is already Centre's point-person for dialogue with Assam-based militant groups.
Sharma said he feels honoured that he has been assigned such a challenging task. Kashmir has been a running thread through his career.
After his return from the Valley in 1994, Sharma was again posted at the Kashmir desk in the national capital. "The times were tough and I hope that now we will together bring peace in the Valley," he said.
Asked whether he would talk to separatist groups in the Valley, Sharma said, "The modalities are being worked out but I would like to talk to everyone who is interested in bringing permanent peace in the Valley."
"Let me make it clear that peace is the priority and for that my doors will be open to everyone," he said.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, Sharma said, "... We have to work towards the goal set by the prime minister and embrace Kashmiris and ensure that lasting peace is achieved."
Sharma, who has also served in Uttar Pradesh and northeastern states besides holding sensitive posts at the IB headquarters here, called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.