BJP asks PMO to clarify Dileep Padgaonkar’s Pak remark

BJP slammed Dileep Padgaonkar, head of the interlocutors’ panel on Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday for saying Pakistan had to be involved for a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue and demanded that the prime minister’s office (PMO) explain if this was part of the team’s brief.

Padgaonkar, on his part stuck, maintained that what he said regarding Pakistan was “obvious” and there was nothing new.
The eminent journalist also said a dialogue with Pakistan was “as necessary” as the dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve the Kashmir issue, which is a “bilateral dispute since 1947-48”.

BJP said the comments sounded as if the panel was rationalising Pakistan’s stand on its “unfinished agenda” in Kashmir and that it was “arguing” from the Hurriyat angle.

“BJP demands that PMO immediately clarify if this was part of the brief given to the interlocutors.

“What was the Pakistan dimension that the interlocutor was referring to. Is this part of the brief given or has he stepped beyond its [the panel’s] brief?” party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi.

Padgaonkar said in Srinagar on Sunday that the panel had not been given any brief by the government and pointed to home minister P Chidambaram’s statement that there were no red lines.

“I have not exceeded my brief as we did not get any brief. We know what we are doing,” he said.

He recalled that parliament had adopted a resolution on J& K, asking Pakistan to vacate areas occupied by it.

“This shows there is a Pakistan dimension to this issue,” he said.
Padgaonkar said the usage of words to describe the problem in the state was not as important as to find a way out.

“We have to put the terrible situation that the state has suffered in the past 63 years behind and the only way to do that is through a sustained dialogue, which can lead to a comprehensive solution,” he said.