The Congress today claimed the Centre had "miserably failed" in Kashmir and said the government had lost precious time and life before admitting that a "muscular approach" would not work in the Valley.
The party said by appointing an interlocutor for Kashmir, the government had agreed to the Opposition's demand for talks with all stakeholders to bring peace to the Valley.
While former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government had realised the Opposition was right in calling for talks in Kashmir, former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the appointment of the interlocutor -- announced by the government today -- was a major victory for those who strongly argued for a political solution.
"From 'No talks' to 'Talks with all stakeholders' is a major victory for those who had strongly argued for a political solution in J&K," Chidambaram tweeted.
In another Tweet, he said, "With appointment of interlocutor, I hope government has finally admitted 'muscular approach' has failed in J&K".
Azad asked why the government had wasted three-and-a- half-years and lost many precious lives before doing something that the Opposition had been demanding all along.
"After having failed miserably" in Kashmir, the government had finally admitted its "blunder", he said.
"We had been demanding from day one that they should talk to all stakeholders and they opposed this demand. After having wasted full three-and-a-half-years and so much loss of life on both sides, they have come to this conclusion," he said, describing the government's think tank as "zero".
The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha told reporters the Congress and the Opposition had been saying that demonetisation and GST were "wrong" decisions and now the government was making changes.
"Whatever the Opposition has been saying on Kashmir, GST and on demonetisation is being proved 100 per cent true and this shows the total failure of the Union government and the total non-application of its mind on various national and international issues," Azad said.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the appointment of a representative to initiate a dialogue with all stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir indicated that "realists" in the government had prevailed over the "hawks".
"Appointment of an interlocutor in J&K is indicative that realists in government have prevailed over the hawks. Hard Power is not an end but means towards an end," Tewari said on Twitter.
The Centre announced sustained dialogues with all stakeholders in the Valley and appointed former Intelligence Bureau director Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for the talks.
The CPI said it had to be seen how the government's new move would work.
"The government has taken a U-turn. The Centre's Kashmir policy has been unsuccessful till now," party leader D Raja said.
He added an all-party delegation had suggested that the dialogue process start with all sections.
"The government did not do it then. Good sense has prevailed. We have to see how it will work now," he said.
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