Interlocutors resume dialogue with Shaheen Bagh protesters

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed panel of interlocutors again on Tuesday night visted Shaheen Bagh to engage the protesters into a second round of talks as efforts to convince them to move to an alternate location continue.

Senior advocates Sadhna Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde urged protesters on Tuesday night to “embrace positive solutions” to resolve the deadlock over the protest site, especially in light of the upcoming Holi festival on 10 March.

"We urged them to understand their role as responsible citizens under the Indian constitution and find solutions keeping in mind other fellow citizens. We said that we interlocutors were not going to impose any decision on them, but rather expected solutions to emerge from their side," Hegde's statement read.

"With the oncoming festival of Holi, we requested them to embrace positive solutions for the best interest of the country and the constitution," it added.

Hegde and Ramachandran also thanked the people for maintaining peace while the city was rocked by communal riots.

On February 17, the Supreme Court had appointed senior lawyers Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran, besides former CIC Wajahat Habibullah, to hold talks with protesters at Shaheen Bagh area to convince them to hold the agitation at an alternative site.

The interlocutors had submitted their reports to the SC in a sealed cover on February 24. The apex court will be hearing the matter on March 23.

Thousands of people, the majority of them women, have been holding a sit-in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed NRC at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area since middecember last year.