Stone-pelters ignore boycott call by Geelani, meet interlocutors

The Centre’s interlocutors on Jammu & Kashmir have achieved back-to-back successes on the first two days of their visit to the Valley.

After meeting senior PDP leader and former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Saturday night, a group of stone-pelters called on them on Sunday despite Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s boycott call.

“People [stone-pelters] did not come on their own and we had invited them, of course. We will not give you the numbers and names of the people who we met,” Radha Kumar, one of the three interlocutors, said.

The interlocutors gave a patient hearing to the stone-pelters. “I think a lot of their grievances are understandable,” Kumar said.
Geelani, who spearheads the current agitation in Kashmir, had asked people to stay away from the interlocutors, calling the central team an exercise aimed at buying time.

Despite that, the interlocutors managed to reach out to stone-pelters who have become a cult figure in the Valley, particularly after the killing of teenager Tufail Matoo which sparked the street rage separatists cashed in on to launch the ‘Quit Kashmir’ movement.

The meeting with Baig came against the backdrop of PDP criticising the composition of the team.

“We met Muzaffar Baig and we will be meeting some independent MLAs and CPI(M) leaders. As far as separatists are concerned, they have already said they do not want to meet us,” Kumar said.
She, however, was hopeful that separatists would come around.

“Let us see, we have hope that at some point they will be ready to meet us and we would always be available,” Kumar said.