Srinagar:
The 3 central interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir arrived in Srinagar today. They say they are willing to talk to anyone who is willing to talk to them.
Dilip Padgaonkar, one of the three interlocutors appointed by the centre did not shy away from describing Kashmir as a dispute, a word that has quite recently caused an uproar in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
(Watch: Dilip Padgaonkar speaks to NDTV)"The fact of the matter is there is dispute. If there was no dispute, it would not have figured in all these years of talks that have taken place. If there was only a problem or question than you would not have had various forums on which discussions have taken place. So I am hung up on particular word. We are as a group hung up on wanting a comprehensive political settlement of this dispute," Padgaonkar said.
(Read: 'We are in J&K to find a solution')Separatists have rejected the nomination of the interlocutors and hardliners have even asked people and political groups to boycott them. Mainstream parties have said they are disappointed with the centre's choice of interlocutors - Dilip Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M M Ansari. They say the interlocutors are in Kashmir just to listen, a point also made by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
" The Home Minister has given them a brief that they have red areas and no boundaries and the Prime Minister has to take a final decision, not the interlocutors," Abdullah said.
On Monday, the panel of three plans to meet some students - a section believed to be most disturbed by the violence in the state. But student groups are not sure of the agenda.
" It is confusing because there is absolutely no declaration of what their mandate is or what they want to talk about," says Tufail Mattoo, a Kashmiri student.
With mainstream political parties unhappy with the choice of the three members, and separatists rejecting them outright, the road ahead is difficult. Their real test is to establish their own credentials and convince the people of the state that they can deliver on an issue where politicians and bureaucrats have failed in the past.