The Centre’s interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir will submit their report on the Kashmir issue next month irrespective of whether the separatists give their opinion or not.
“We have stretched our limits of courtesy and the response has been negative. We consider their inputs as necessary. If we do not get inputs from the separatists, we will go ahead and submit the report (to the Centre) nevertheless,” Dileep Padgaonkar, head of the three-member team, said on Saturday.
The interlocutors had sent e-mail invitations to all separatist outfits, including both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, asking them to give their inputs on resolution of Kashmir issue so that they could be incorporated in the final report. Shabir Ahmad Shah was the only separatist leader who sent a written reply to their invitation.
“His letter reiterates his position that talks would be irrelevant if ‘draconian’ laws are not repealed...,” Padgaonkar said.
The interlocutors are likely to send the report to home minister P Chidambaram, which will then be vetted by the Prime Minister. The report is to be submitted in March.
Extending another invitation to Shah, Padgaonkar said, “We urge Shah to embark on an engagement with us so that the first point on the agenda could be issues he has listed....”