By IANS,
Srinagar : The three interlocutors on Kashmir Monday met family members and aides of detained separatist leader Shabir Shah at his uptown residence in summer capital Srinagar.
The chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party is presently under detention and has refused to be let out on parole though the authorities decided to release him in view of his failing health. He has been in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for over two years now.
The interlocutors – noted journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and Information Commissioner M.M. Ansari – went to Shah’s Sanat Nagar residence in the morning and met his family members and party activists, sources said.
“Shabir Shah has decided not to come out on parole. If the authorities intend to release him they must withdraw the PSA detention order slammed on him,” a source in Shah’s party said.
Radha Kumar is scheduled to meet some students’ delegations here later Monday, the sources added.
The team of interlocutors is on a four-day maiden visit to the Kashmir Valley after they were nominated to address the political problems and other related issues in the state that has been facing increased unrest since June 11.
The team members would meet all shades of opinion to arrive at some consensus over the political dispute that would address the aspirations of all the three regions of the state.
“The team members are also meeting some officials today (Monday) besides members of the civil society,” the sources said.
Both the hardline and the moderate Hurriyat groups headed by Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, respectively, have said they would not meet the interlocutors and also asked local trade and student unions not to meet them.
Thousands of people have died since insurgency began in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. While things were beginning to look up last year, the state was plunged into a fresh crisis after stone-pelting protesters started clashing with the security forces. At least 110 people have been killed in the ongoing unrest since June 11.