New Delhi, Oct 12: The three interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir today submitted their report to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram laying down a roadmap for the government to address all issues pertaining to the state.
The report was handed over to Chidambaram by the entire team comprising noted journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, former Information Commissioner M M Ansari and Radha Kumar.
The report has been submitted within the time-frame of one year given by the government to the group, that was formed after an all-party meeting held last year.
Ahead of submission of report, Padgaonkar had told PTI that it would suggest a “roadmap” and it was up to the government to carry forward the recommendations.
Though the panel did not meet any prominent separatist leader except former Hurriyat Chairman Maulana Abas Ansari, the report has taken into account both mainstream and off-stream opinions and in particular various inputs from both Hurriyat factions.
The interlocutors had met nearly 700 delegations during the past one year besides holding three round-table conferences and attending three gatherings.
Noted academician Radha Kumar had earlier been engaged in back-channel discussions with moderate Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani but after her appointment as the Centre's interlocutor, the separatist leaders stayed away from her.
The third member of the team, M M Ansari, professor and Director at the Hamdard University and an educationist and economist before becoming an Information Commissioner, was a surprise inclusion in the team as he had no association with Kashmir during his tenure as a bureaucrat. PTI
