Prepare a roadmap for azaadi, Padgaonkar tells Kashmiri students

Dilip Padgaonkar, who heads the group of Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir, asked students to prepare a roadmap for azaadi (freedom) by the time they return for a second visit to the Valley.

"Next time when we come (to Kashmir), let us discuss 'azaadi' and its economic and strategic implications. We have to discuss it threadbare. If this is your wish, we can discuss it," he told a group of university students in Srinagar.

"Prepare a roadmap with a time-line which can be delivered. Make it precise, make it practical, which can be achieved in a time-bound manner," the journalist told them.

The students presented to the interlocutors a three-point formula for reducing the trust-deficit. The three-point formula suggested by them included the demand for immediate release of students and youths who have been arrested on charges of stone-pelting during the unrest, repeal of all the "draconian laws" and demilitarisation of the state. "Such steps will help in reducing the trust-deficit,"a student said. Padgaonkar said he wished to see more schools and fewer jails in Kashmir.