‘After failing in Kashmir, Centre agrees to Oppn’

Former Union home minister P Chidambaram said the appointment of the interlocutor was a major victory for those who strongly argued for a political solution.

The Congress on Monday claimed that the Centre had "miserably failed" in Kashmir and said the government had lost precious time and life before admitting that a "muscular approach" would not work in the Valley.

The party said by appointing an interlocutor for Kashmir, the government had agreed to the Opposition's demand for talks with all stakeholders to bring peace to the Valley.

While former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government had realised the Opposition was right in calling for talks in Kashmir, former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the appointment of the interlocutor - announced by the government on Monday -- was a major victory for those who strongly argued for a political solution.

"From 'No talks' to 'Talks with all stakeholders' is a major victory for those who had strongly argued for a political solution in J&K," Chidambaram tweeted.

In another Tweet, he said, "With appointment of interlocutor, I hope government has finally admitted 'muscular approach' has failed in J&K".

Azad asked why the government had wasted threeand-ahalf-years and lost many precious lives before doing something that the Opposition had been demanding all along. "After having failed miserably" in Kashmir, the government had finally admitted its "blunder", he said.

"We had been demanding from day one that they should talk to all stakeholders and they opposed this demand. After having wasted full three-and-a-halfyears and so much loss of life on both sides, they have come to this conclusion," he said, describing the government's think tank as "zero". The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha told reporters the Congress and the Opposition had been saying that demonetisation and GST were "wrong" decisions and now the government was making changes.

"Whatever the Opposition has been saying on Kashmir, GST and on demonetisation is being proved 100 per cent true and this shows the total failure of the Union government and the total nonapplication of its mind on various national and international issues," Azad said.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the appointment of a representative indicated that "realists" in the government had prevailed over the "hawks".