The Centre’s interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir today submitted their sixth report to Home Minister P. Chidambaram specifically outlining the problems being faced by women in the two decades-long violence in the state.
The interlocutors - Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M.M. Ansari - will also submit their interim report containing the contours of a political settlement of Kashmir issue to the government within a week.
Mr. Padgaonkar said during their last visit to the state, the team held intensive discussions with women representatives and tried to understand their view on the Kashmir issue and how to solve it.
“Women in Kashmir had suffered immensely - both physically as well as psychologically,” he said after the meeting with the Home Minister.
Mr. Padgaonkar said barring a few, most of the women favoured keeping Jammu and Kashmir as one unit but demanded that aspirations of the people of the three regions - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh - be fulfilled.
He said that Kashmir issue should be discussed more frequently in different fora, including Parliament, to understand the problem and how to find an amicable solution acceptable to all.
Asked about the reluctance of separatists to meet the interlocutors, Mr. Padgaonkar said they will meet them whenever there is a need and opportunity.
