KASHMIR-LD CHIDAMBARAM 2 LAST

In his statement, Chidambaram said the loss of lives– of In his statement, Chidambaram said the loss of lives– ofprotesting youth, other civilians and security forces– hasdevastated all and it must stop. "I am afraid the way out of the crisis cannot be found bythe present government," he said. Normal life in Kashmir Valley has been affected by violentprotests over the last 40 days since the killing of HizbulMujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with securityforces on July 8. So far the unrest has claimed the lives of63 people. A candid Chidambaram has been expressing concern over thesituation in the state and had even admitted that successivegovernments in Srinagar and New Delhi had "mishandled" it. "We (UPA government) did mishandle. But we correctedourselves in 2010. Now, both the governments in Delhi andSrinagar mishandled (it) very, very badly," he had saidrecently. The former Union minister had suggested a radical solutionto the Kashmir problem by advocating restoration of the "grandbargain" under which Kashmir had acceded to India by grantinga large degree of autonomy. "I think their approach is wrong. We have ignored thegrand bargain under which Kashmir acceded to India. I think webroke faith, we broke promises and as a result we have paid aheavy price," he had said. PTI ACB SKC SKL SKSK