New Delhi, Oct 13: The Centre on Wednesday named three interlocutors, including veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, to hold talks with all shades of opinion including the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to bring peace in the state.
The announcement as part of the eight-point package unveiled nearly three weeks back to address the unrest in the Kashmir Valley was either greeted with silence by some of the parties in Jammu and Kashmir or got a lukewarm response while the separatists rejected the panel.
Besides Padgaonkar, Information Commissioner M M Ansari and noted academician Radha Kumar were the other two named by union home minister P Chidambaram as interlocutors chosen in consultation with the state government.
The decision to appoint a set of interlocutors was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting chaired by Prime Manmohan Singh on September 25.
The terms and references of the panel will be to hold talks with all shades of opinion including mainstream political parties and separatists. The panel will cover views of all the three regions-Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir.
Radha Kumar, who heads the Nelson Mandela Institute of Peace in Jamia Milia Islamia, has been engaged in back-channel discussions with moderate Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Recently, she was in the Valley and had met Geelani who was undergoing treatment in SKIMS in Srinagar.
Padgaonkar was part of Kashmir committee led by eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
Ansari, who was professor and Director at the Hamdard University, is an educationist and economist before moving as an Information Commissioner.
The appointment of interlocutors is part of the eight-point initiative announced by the Government after the CCS meeting in September to hold “sustained dialogue” with various shades of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Centre had also announced grant of ex-gratia relief to the families of those killed in civil disturbances since June 11. The total number of dead is now 110.
The Centre had also advised the state government to immediately review the cases of all Public Safety Act detainees and withdraw the detention orders in appropriate cases.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST