No communal intent in report, say Kashmir interlocutors

Asserting that none of their proposals smacks of communal intent, the Centre's interlocutors on Monday assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that their report addressed the political aspirations of the state as a whole and of its three regions.

The three interlocutors also took exception to the "speculative stories" appearing in a section of media, dismissing them as "pulp fiction" and asked the people not to pay heed to any "self-serving attempt to rubbish the report without any knowledge whatsoever of its substance."

They assured the people that the recommendations have addressed the political aspirations of the state as a whole, of each of its three regions, of each district within every region and of all communities while resolutely refusing to advance any proposal that smacks of communal intent.

"Indeed, the recommendations are inter-locked and cannot therefore be disentangled to suit the designs of any one region or community," the three interlocutors -- Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M M Ansari -- said in a statement in New Delhi.

While cautioning people of the state not to lend any credence to news stories that claim to reveal the contents of its final report handed over to Home Minister P Chidambaram on October 12, the interlocutors said the report "is under lock and key in his (Chidambaram) office and no one has access to it."

"The news stories were so speculative that they fall in the category of pulp fiction with its mix of half-truths and fantasy. The comments made on the basis of such reports are therefore misleading and perhaps even mischievous in that they are a self-serving attempt to rubbish the report without any knowledge whatsoever of its substance."

The interlocutors said the people of the state would, therefore, be well advised to ignore them for it is only a matter of time before the government shares the report with the all party delegation.

"This would be the opportune moment for all stake-holders to subject it to close, critical scrutiny and, on that basis, to carry forward the Group's efforts to arrive at a political settlement in the State," the statement said.