By IANS,
Jammu : The central government’s interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday said people in the three regions of the state — the valley, Ladakh and Jammu — want a permanent and irreversible solution to the Kashmir tangle.
Academician Radha Kumar, one of the three interlocutors, told media persons here that the “biggest commonality that has been found across the state is that the people want a permanent and irreversible solution to the Kashmir crisis”.
She, with head of the interlocutors’ group journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, gave glimpses of the way their interaction with various sections of people was progressing at the conclusion of their 10th visit to the state since their appointment in October last year.
So far, the group has met over 500 delegations and interacted with more than 5,000 people. Former information commissioner M.M. Ansari is the third interlocutor.
About talks with separatists, Radha Kumar said the interlocutors were keen on dialogue with them, “but at the same time we don’t want to embarrass them by visiting their places without any prior mutual arrangement”.
She pointed out that whether national or regional parties, all were in “favour of a consensus on finding a way out to resolve the crisis gripping the state”.
Jammu and Kashmir has been facing a violent conflict for the past over two decades. More than 50,000 people have been killed in the Pakistan sponsored militancy.
But the forces of violence have suffered a great deal due to peoples’ yearning for peace and discarding of the militants and their gun culture as is evident over the past few years.
This summer is being regarded as the most peaceful period since 1990.
The three interlocutors were appointed to break the ice in Kashmir at a time when the valley had undergone over five-month-long spell of street protests, clashes and killings.
Padgaonkar disclosed that the interlocutors would submit their report to the central government.
“We are not Kashmir centric,” he clarified as there have been charges that the interlocutors were inclined to the idea of greater autonomy and self rule that is being propounded by the National Conference and Peoples Democratic party.
He also clarified that the interlocutors were not even Jammu-centric or Ladakh-centric.