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Jethmalani supports Kashmir interlocutors, embarrasses BJP | Noted criminal lawyer and senior Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday opposed the party line by coming out in support of the Kashmir interlocutors, saying it is childish and
churlish to accuse them of internationalising the issue. Despite the BJP'S strong
criticism of panel member Dileep Padgaonkar's remarks on Pakistan being key to
a permanent Kashmir solution, Jethmalani stated that interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar
and his team's task of finding a peaceful and lasting solution to the Kashmir
problem is almost superhuman. "Neither by acts nor by words we should add to their
difficulties. It is childish and churlish to attack them as internalizing the
issue. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by his confabulations with Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf and recently Foreign Minister SM Krishna confabulating
with his counterpart Qureshi were exactly doing that," said Jethmalani. "The dialogue
with Pakistan is a compulsory legacy of the Shimla Agreement of 1972. We cannot
wish it out of existence," he added. Jethmalani further said he fervently prayed
for their success, despite having serious misgivings, asserting that even if they
achieve partial result the nation would owe them a debt of gratitude. The BJP
had earlier accused Padgaonkar of internationalising the Kashmir problem after
he said a solution to the issue was not possible without involving Pakistan. The
party had also questioned whether he was given the brief to make such statements
by the Centre and sought a clarification from the Prime Minister's Office on the
matter. The three-member panel of interlocutors appointed by the Central Government
visited Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian town today, which had witnessed an agitation
over the death of two women in June last year. The interlocutors, headed by eminent
journalist Dileep Padgaonkar met Shakeel Ahmad Ahanger, husband of Nilofar and
brother of Aasiya -- the two women whose death on May 30 led to widespread protests
across the valley. The death of Nilofar and Aasiya had sparked valley wide protests
after allegations of rape and murder of the two women by security forces surfaced
in the south Kashmir town. The Jammu and Kashmir Government had ordered a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident and the premier investigating
agency in its report concluded that the women had died due to drowning in Ranbiara
stream. The CBI has chargesheeted thirteen persons, including six doctors and
five lawyers, for allegedly fabricating evidence to implicate the security forces
in the death of the two women.
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