New Delhi, July 22: Senior leader of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, has said the country has been groping in the dark for the past six decades to find a solution to issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.
 Speaking at a discussion held under the aegis of India Foundation, here, Jaitley said, “We cannot find a solution unless we can get to the reality.”
 Terming the setting up of committees to find a solution to Kashmir problem in the past as “half-hearted effort,” he said, “Such committees didn’t serve any purpose and interlocutors report is in continuity to that.”
 Taking a dig at separatists Jaitely said, “Syed Ali Geelani and his tribe in a peaceful Kashmir are like a fish out of water and therefore time to time they raise the issue.”
 Speaking on the occasion chief interlocutor on Kashmir Dalip Padgaonakar said the report submitted by him and his two colleagues (Radha Kumar and M M Ansari) has not recommended the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). “We had suggested that it should be reviewed not revoked. Knowing the sensitivity of the issue, it should be discussed in the confines of a room and not openly in public.”
 Former Union Minister Arif Muhammad Khan while referring to the interlocutors report on Kashmir said, “The Government is preparing the ground for the Prime Minister to resume talks with separatists. The report gives the impression that the Kashmir problem is home grown and it is an internal matter.”
 Recalling the brief interregnum in 1983-84 during the time of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Khan said that the people of Kashmir did not know even how to wield a knife. An interesting observation by Khan was the remark made by late Zia-ul-Haq the then President of Pakistan who emphatically had declared that “Our aim is liberation of Kashmir.”
 Speaking on the occasion the spokesperson of BJP for Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh, said, “The report submitted by the interlocutors had ill-perceived perceptions. The people who were appointed as interlocutors in the past were made governors. It seems this three member team too has the same ambition.”
 He felt that the separatist groups such as Hurriyat Conference instead of being encouraged,as has been done in the report, should be discouraged. “If there is no trouble in the Valley, the Hurriyat would lose the very purpose of its existence.”

Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
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