J&K interlocutors to get a year tenure

NEW DELHI: The three-member interlocutor’s panel constituted by the government to hold a sustained dialogue with the people of Jammu & Kashmir is likely to have a one-year tenure, according to sources in the government.

Members, who have been told to devote 7-8 days in a month to holding deliberations with all interested parties in J&K, are likely to finalise the terms of reference in consultation with the government after one of the panellists, Ms Radha Kumar, returns from her foreign visit next week.

Ministry of home affairs, on its part, has compiled three separate sets of all agreements and papers relating to J&K, including the Instrument of Accession, 1952 Delhi Agreement, the 1975 accord. “It will be handed over to the three members for reference before they start deliberations with all shades of opinion in J&K,” said a senior official.

The government had announced a three-member interlocutor panel for J&K earlier this week. Members include senior journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, information commissioner M M Ansari and academician Radha Kumar.

The much-awaited panel has already come under severe criticism from political and separatist groups in the state with JKLF calling it a joke while Hurriyat Conference also flaying it. A senior MHA official on Friday dismissed the criticism as “routine and on expected lines,” saying that it was just part of the separatists’ trick to “put the panel on the backfoot right at the start.”