Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Join the peace process to solve Kashmir’s problems or get isolated - this is the message from union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai to separatist leaders who have so far refused to be part of the dialogue initiated by the government last year.

“It is up to them (separatists) if they want to be a part of the peace process; otherwise they will get isolated,” Pillai told IANS in an exclusive interview.

Both the hardline and moderate separatist Hurriyat Conference groups headed respectively by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have so far refused to be part of the dialogue process the government set in motion last year after months of bloody street protests in the Kashmir valley.

They even refused to meet the government-appointed interlocutors tasked to suggest a way forward on how to find a political solution to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, a state battling an unending separatist war since 1989 that has left some 70,000 people dead.

Pillai said the interlocutors - Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M.M. Ansari - have so far submitted six reports to Home Minister P. Chidambaram outlining the political and social problems in the state.

“They will submit their final report after the state assembly elections,” Pillai said, adding that once the final report is with the government they would again call all “shades of opinion”, including those of separatists, for their view.

“We will call people when the report is out. Then there will be discussions and we will seek suggestions on the roadmap provided by the interlocutors.

“We will call them (separatists) also. It is up to them to come. They may not come and that is their choice. We will call all the groups,” the home secretary said.

He said the state and central governments are taking suggestions of the interlocutors “seriously and are implementing the recommendations”.

Asked if any separatist leader met the interlocutors secretly, Pillai said: “We will get to know who they (interlocutors) met, formally or informally, when they submit their report.”

On the controversial reduction of security forces from the Kashmir valley, the home secretary said: “Two battalions of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) are already out from the streets of Jammu and Kashmir. They are back in the barracks.”

Pillai said as part of the confidence building measures, the government has also removed most of the security forces’ pickets from Srinagar.

“You have seen those bunkers, they have also been removed from Srinagar. Out of 41 bunkers, I think, 29 have been removed,” he said.

The home secretary said the removal of the pickets from the city “has helped a lot because the presence of the bunkers was a lot of irritant for the common people”.

“Removal of bunkers means a lot for them because when they open the window in the morning or move out in the morning they don’t have to encounter somebody looking at you with a gun pointed at you. It has been a good sign,” he said.

Asked about the defence ministry opposing the idea of reduction of troopers in the state, Pillai said there had been “a lot of misunderstanding”.

“When we talk about a troop cut, we are not talking about the border or something like counter-insurgency operations. You can keep as many as you want; we have no problems with that. We are talking of those deployed for law and order duty.

“Last year we took out 10 battalions and then we had 70 batallions. This year, so far, we have taken out two, which means 68 batallions are still there. They are more than enough, we don’t need them.”

Pillai said more troopers would be pulled as the situation improves. “It is being done in phases.”

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)