BJP slams Kashmir interlocutor for statement on 'azadi'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today came down heavily on Radha Kumar, one of the three Kashmir interlocutors, for her reported suggestion that the constitution could be amended to accommodate a "discussion on the azadi option for Jammu and Kashmir."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today came down heavily on Radha Kumar, one of the three Kashmir interlocutors, for her reported suggestion that the constitution could be amended to accommodate a "discussion on the azadi option for Jammu and Kashmir."

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"She is nobody to talk like this. She has no jurisdiction. This is not the way for interlocutors to function," said BJP spokesman Ramnath Kovind here.

After concluding the interlocutor team's four-day visit to the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday, academic Radha Kumar is reported to have said: "We can even recommend amendments to the constitution to accommodate discussion on the Kashmir issue to find a solution to the problem in line with people's aspirations."

Kovind told IANS that the BJP does not "agree with the manner in which she is talking to the media."

Citing the parliament resolution that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, Kovind said: "There is no point in going back."

Radha Kumar and Dilip Padgaonkar, one of the other interlocutors, arrived in Jammu Wednesday at the conclusion of their four-day visit to the valley. The third interlocutor is M.M. Ansari, who had gone back to Delhi.