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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Interlocutors for empowering the people of Jammu & Kashmir-Vinay Kumar

Interlocutors for empowering the people of Jammu & Kashmir-Vinay Kumar

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published Published on May 28, 2012   modified Modified on May 28, 2012

Eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar who headed the group of three Central interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir said on Thursday that the thrust of their report was to empower the people of Jammu and Kashmir so that they were able to exercise their civil and political rights in full measure.

The 176-page report of the group of Central interlocutors was uploaded on the website of Union Home Ministry on Thursday, seven months after it was submitted to Home Minister P. Chidambaram in October last year.

Referring to the wide interactions which the group had with the people in Jammu and Kashmir and voluminous documents which the interlocutors went through, Mr. Padgaonkar said their meetings and interactions revealed the desire of the people to lead a life of dignity and honour.

On several components — political, economic, cultural and social — in the report, Mr. Padgaonkar said that interlocutors while upholding Article 370 favoured further strengthening it.

Talking to The Hindu on the phone from Pune, he said the interlocutors made attempts to find out if the people of the State benefited from Central laws and Articles. “The opinion has been divided and even the Supreme Court's view was divided on it. So, we recommended that a Constitutional Committee be set up to review all these laws since the clock cannot be turned back,” he said.

In view of the changed security, economic and global environment, it was felt that the State and the administrative machinery should have enough powers to focus on the welfare of the people, he said.

Mr. Padgaonkar said the report recommended devolution of power — political and administrative — down to the district and panchayat level. “We also said that people who have been uprooted due to war and other events should become part of the power structure at all levels,” he added.

Another key component, he said, was the need to have confidence building measures at all levels, including human rights and accountability. He said the report also sought to give voice to demands made, notably by Kashmiri Pandits for full rehabilitation in the Valley and also noted concerns expressed by the Sikh community.

“There is a crucial economic component as well. We have found a rich diversity in the State and Jammu and Kashmir, in fact, is a mini-India. We favoured free movement of goods and people, opening of all roads leading to other parts of the State and making the Line of Control a mere line on the map,” he said.

Mr. Padgaonkar stressed that the political thrust, along with supporting components in the report, buttress the all important point of moving towards a permanent settlement of Jammu and Kashmir issue.

Asked about the road map in the near future, he said the three former interlocutors would serve as “resource persons” and meet opinion makers and other persons to get feedback on the report.

“We will hold meetings in Delhi, Srinagar and three or four other places. I think this exercise will be over in the next three or four months. The government will also engage itself in similar exercise by talking to all political parties,” he said.

Pointing out that there has not been a national debate on Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Padgaonkar expressed the hope that the recommendations would help in building a consensus on the permanent solution.

He said that models within the country, like Gorkhaland and West Bengal government agreement on internal devolution of powers, were available.

The Hindu, 25 May, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3454382.ece


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