Appointing interlocutor a tactic to buy time: Separatists

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently appointed former IB chief Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor to talk to all stakeholders in J&K including separatists.

BREAKING their silence on the offer for talks and appointment of an interlocutor by the government, the joint separatist leadership on Tuesday termed it a tactic to buy time and strike a hard bargain with the people of Kashmir.

The leadership said the offer came under international pressure and regional compulsions and due to the failure of the state policy of “military repression” on the people of Kashmir. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently appointed former IB chief Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor to talk to all stakeholders in J&K including separatists.

Separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik met at Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s residence after which they issued a statement. “While in principle the pro-freedom leadership has always advocated and supported sincere and productive dialogue as a means of conflict resolution over J&K, what it inherently entails from all participants to dialogue is the basic acknowledgment that there is a dispute that has to be resolved. But the government of India continuously refuses to accept this basic premise and the reality on the ground,’’ the statement said.