Separatists should have put across 'roadmap' to all-party delegation: Mehbooba Mufti

JAMMU: Separatists should have put across an implementable roadmap for resolution of Kashmir issue instead of shying away from meeting the all-party delegation and being "caught in darkness", Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said.

She also voiced hope that the Centre will initiate an inclusive engagement through an institutionalized mechanism to address the Kashmir issue and the separatists will respond positively to it.

"Instead of being caught in darkness, the separatists should have met the members of the all-party delegation and put across an implementable roadmap for the resolution of the (Kashmir) issue," the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister was quoted as saying at a function here yesterday.

She said "by shying away from talks, a message has gone around that the separatists are not interested in ending the people's miseries by coming forward for peaceful resolution of the issue", according to an official statement.

"We hope a fresh and productive effort would be made by the country's political leadership to reach out to all the stakeholders in the state to address the issue through inclusive and comprehensive engagement," she said.

Separatist leaders had refused to meet some of the MPs of the all-party delegation who had reached out to them during its visit the state on September 4-5.