A 12-member all-faith delegation on Tuesday headed for Jammu and Kashmir with a mission to restore peace in the Valley. The mission, which has representatives from all major Muslim organisations and other communities, said they would try and resolve the crisis democratically. The representatives in this civil mission comprises Moulana Mahmood Madani and N A Farooquie of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, A H Noomani and Mustafa Farooquie of Jamiat-e-Islami, Mauzi Khan of Milli Council, Moulana Mahmood Hassan of Jamiat-ahle-Hadis, Jishan Hidayathi of Huzzatul Islam, Zayeed Javed Hamid of Muslim Empowerment, former RS member and BJP sympathiser Dr J K Jain, Father Samuel from the Christian community and Professor Paramajeet Singh Sarna of Dilli Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee. “With the Government failing to do the needful, we decided to pitch in to solve the J&K crisis amicably,” said Dr Jain.

The all-faith peace initiative will be holding meeting with both Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti and the leaders of the two factions of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

“We are going there with an open mind. We will be neutral to both Jammu and Kashmir. We want to tell the people of both regions that the entire country is concerned,” said N A Farooquie. “We will pass on the details of the talks to the Government. We hope it acts effectively then.”