Srinagar, India (CNN) -- Pro-India groups Sunday welcomed the latest initiative from New Delhi to defuse the crisis in Indian-administered Kashmir, but a hard-line separatist leader spearheading the unrelenting pro-independence unrest dismissed the plan as "an eyewash".
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah was one of the first to hail the eight-point proposal, describing it as "a positive development which should lead to resolving the political issues of the state".
Omar said students who had been detained for throwing stones during the violent demonstrations that have so far claimed 106 lives would be released soon, and schools and colleges should reopen Monday so that students will be prepared for annual state board exams.
However, he said, one of the main points of the proposal -- to scale down the number of security forces in the area and to withdraw the Disturbed Areas Act in some places -- would be reviewed this week at the unified headquarters meeting.
The Indian government had imposed a strict round-the-clock curfew in the summer capital of Srinagar and in several other areas in an attempt to prevent angry mobs from taking to the street.
CNN
