Geelani says interlocutors on J&K a futile move

Srinagar: The hardline Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday described the Centre's appointment of a 3-member team of interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir as a futile exercise while the moderate faction said a Parliamentary panel would have been an appropriate forum to reach out to the people.

"This is a futile exercise. The Government of India is acting like a deaf and dumb," Syed Ali Shah Geelani, head of the hardline Hurriyat faction, told reporters here.

He was reacting to the appointment of journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, Prof Radha Kumar and Information Commissioner M M Ansari as Centre's interlocutors to hold talks with all shades of opinion, including separatists, in the state.

Geelani said no dialogue could be held for resolution of the Kashmir issue unless the Centre acts on the five-point proposal mooted by him in August this year for normalisation of situation in the Valley.

"We have given the five-point formula. Instead of reacting to it, they are beating about the bush," he said.

The Hurriyat hawk had demanded that the Centre accept Jammu and Kashmir as a dispute. He also sought release of all political prisoners, withdrawal of armed forces from the state, an end to "human rights violations" and arrest of security personnel responsible for civilian killings during the recent unrest in the Valley.

The moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, said "Kashmir is a political problem and political intervention is needed to address it."

Several such committees in the past had yielded nothing, Mirwaiz said after consulting executive members of his amalgam over appointment of the interlocutors.

Any process aimed at addressing the Kashmir issue should be serious recognising the political problem, the Hurriyat dove said.

A Parliamentary panel, representing all shades of opinion, would have been an appropriate forum for reaching out to people of Kashmir, he said.

The dialogue for resolution of the Kashmir issue should come in the second phase and the Centre should first create a conducive atmosphere for talks.

"We had given some suggestions for improving the ground situation but contrary to that killings, arrests and curfew continues," the Hurriyat softliner said.

JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik refused to comment on the development.