SRINAGAR: Yeshwant Sinha led Concerned Citizens Group (CCG) has issued a statement asked the central government to talk to stakeholders in J&K. Here is the exact statement:
“The Concerned Citizens Group from across India has read with much hope the statements of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the BJP leadership on a positive change in policy towards Kashmir’s citizens, as have many Kashmiris.
While looking forward to a concrete follow up, we would like to suggest that in order to operationalize the well-intentioned statements that have so eloquently been made, it is now necessary for the government to clearly identify the stakeholders, announce the name of an authorized interlocutor, set a timeframe for the beginning and conduct of the dialogue process and start it as soon as possible.
Despite deep scepticism that has taken hold of their minds, the encouraging statements by the PM, HM and others hold promise for the Kashmiris. The present opportunity should not be wasted. And, therefore, it is our fervent appeal to the government to quickly act definitively on the sentiments expressed in a time-bound manner.
The signatories of the statement include Yashwant Sinha, former foreign and finance minister, Wajahat Habibullah, former chairman Minorities Commission, Manish Tewari, former I&B minister, Nirupama Rao, former foreign secretary, Kapil Kak, air-vice marshal (r), V. Balachandran, former special secretary, Govt. of India, Badri Raina, writer academic, Ramchandra Guha, historian and political commentator, Zoya Hasan, Professor of political science, Bharat Bhushan, editor, CatchNews, John Dayal, Social Activist and Sushobha Barve, executive secretary, Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation
