Former Central Information Commissioner (CIC) and the member of panel of interlocutors on Kashmir, M.M. Ansari said that contrary to the dominating view in the Valley, people of Poonch are more inclined towards India as probably they are actually the sufferers of war.
He was interacting with the media late after wrapping up the interactions with various delegations in Poonch town on the second day of panel’s third visit to the state. He along with chief interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar reached Poonch on Saturday morning.
Mr Ansari maintained that the effort of the panel would be to evolve consensus vis-à-vis a political solution to Kashmir, acceptable to all the three regions of J&K.
Summing up various shades of opinion in the border town, after day long deliberations, Mr Ansari observed that the view of people of Poonch was different from that of the dominating view point in the Valley.
“Here the people are more inclined towards India. One reason may be that they (the people in the border district) have witnessed many wars and suffered. And they’ve also faced great hardships due to Pak firing. I think they are actually the sufferers of war,” Mr Ansari maintained.
He informed that most of the delegations which met them were against the division of the state. “Some raised local grievances besides employment issues, discrimination with this border district etc. Some people whose relatives are living on border and whose relatives are living across the border demanded ‘irrelevant borders’ vis-a-vis PAK,” Mr Ansari stated.
He denied that the CBMs proposed by the panel were Kashmir centric and criticised media for negative reporting.
Mr Ansari asserted that the CBMs are for people of all the regions of the state. Notably chief interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar today did not interact with the media.