The Centre’s interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday completed the year-long process of interactions with a cross-section of people to find a solution to the political issues of the state.
The team -- comprising eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former Information Commissioner M.M. Ansari -- interacted with people from all walks of life in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district today.
During the current visit to the state, which is their last before they submit their report to the Central Government, the interlocutors also visited Samba district in Jammu region and Shopian and Baramulla districts in the Valley.
“We had not visited these four district headquarters so far. This has concluded the interaction part for us,” one of the interlocutors said.
The team has submitted interim reports to the Centre after every visit and will now begin work on their final draft upon their return to New Delhi on Wednesday.
They have maintained that they will submit their final recommendations to the Centre before their term expires on October 12 this year.
With this, the Centre’s interlocutors have visited all 22 districts of the state since their appointment on October 13 last year. The team was appointed at the fag end of last summer’s unrest in the Valley and assigned the task of finding a solution to the political problems of the state.
While the separatists have not engaged with the interlocutors appointed by the Centre, the team has said that the decision will not have any bearing on their report.
The interlocutors had said earlier that they will incorporate the known stands of various separatist groups in their final report.
Certain sections from mainstream political parties in the state also initially expressed reservations about the role and conduct of the interlocutors due to their statements about the role of Pakistan in resolution of the Kashmir issue at the very outset of their appointment.
However, the interlocutors’ decision to visit every district and major towns of the state for interactions drew more and more people to put forth their point of view to them.
Although the interlocutors have not divulged most of the recommendations made to the Centre and state government over the past one year, they are credited with removal of many security forces’ bunkers in the city and the general amnesty announced by Chief Omar Abdullah to those involved in stone-pelting up to August 28 this year.
