Srinagar
Former Union Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said that he “regretted” not acting on the Jammu and Kashmir interlocutors report as the then Union Home Minister in 2011, reported IANS.
“I deeply regret the way interlocutors’ report was handled. We should have acted on the report,” IANS quoted Chidambaram as having said in response to a query by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at an event.
“Following the massive unrest in the Valley in 2010, the Manmohan Singh government appointed a group of interlocutors comprising veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, former Information Commissioner M.M. Ansari and social activist Radha Kumar,” said the report.
“After a year of deliberations and discussions with all stakeholders, the group submitted its report to then Home Minister Chidambaram in October 2011 and made several recommendations. None of these were eventually acted upon by the Central government,” the report added.
Speaking at the event, the report quoted Chidambaram as having said the “muscular, macho” approach adopted by the Narendra Modi government is bound to fail.
He advocated diluting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), if not repealing it, in Jammu and Kashmir and said it would go a long way in bringing normalcy back to the Valley.
“Our control is to reach out to people and to stakeholders. And that is where this government has failed,” IANS quoted Chidambaram as having said.
Speaking earlier, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that situation was getting better and perhaps conducive for the Kashmiri Pandits’ return to the Valley but after 2014 it has been “on a slide”. “The Centre should hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible and whoever is elected, let that government work,” IANS quoted Omar Abdullah as having said.
