‘Contours of political solution to Kashmir soon’

The government expects to have the contours of a political solution to the Kashmir problem in a few months, home minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday.

The government expects to have the contours of a political solution to the Kashmir problem in a few months, home minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday.

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“Kashmir issue is a political issue for which a political solution must be found,” Chidambaram told MPs — members of the home ministry’s consultative committee — at a panel meeting to discuss the situation in the state on Thursday.

Chidambaram, who has received the first two reports of the group of interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir — led by journalist Dileep Padgaonkar — on confidence-building measures, said he had asked the group to focus on finding the contours of a political solution.

Government sources said the interlocutors would start working on the contours of a political solution after meeting people from all walks of life during their visit to interior parts of the state from December 17.

The home minister, however, made it clear that peace and good governance were prerequisites for a political solution and conceded that the state government still had some distance to go on governance.

Sharing his assessment of the situation in J&K, the home minister said there was need to give space to peaceful protesters and reduce the visible presence of security forces. “Governance and delivery on the ground must improve,” he said.