JOIN USAccording to the Left leaders, the three-day visit of the leaders that ended on Wednesday opened up a plethora of opportunities for reconciliation. They were particularly in awe of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram who led the team to the Valley and even reportedly encouraged them to meet separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, though he could not himself be present at the meetings.
Gurdas Dasgupta, senior CPI leader said, “Being a minister, Chidambaram was not supposed to meet separatist leaders”.
Though the Left front differs with the Centre on many counts of the issue, it shared the Centre’s view that separatists too should be part of the discussions to diffuse tension in the Valley, where 69 people have died since June in protests against alleged civilian deaths by security forces.
With the BJP openly criticising the meeting between part of the all-party delegation and the separatists, the Centre is looking up to the Left and to other Opposition parties such as the Telugu Desam Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the JD (U) for support on its stand on Kashmir.