Radha Kumar upset over Ansari's attack

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) The rift among Centre's
(government of India) interlocutors on north Indian state
Jammu and Kashmir appears to have widened further after one of
the panelists Radha Kumar expressed her anger over the "smear
campaign" indulged in by her colleague M M Ansari over her
participation in an international conference said to have been
organised at the behest of Pakistan's ISI.
A furious Kumar is understood to have submitted a letter
to Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram protesting against the
remarks made by Ansari about her attending a European
Parliament conference organised by the Tramboo Centre in 2006
in Brussels.
The Centre is run by Abdul Majeed Tramboo, a barrister
and a Kashmiri from the Valley, who is said to be under the
scanner for his association with the Pakistani establishment,
ISI and Ghulam Nabi Fai.
Fai, a US-based Kashmiri separatist, was arrested by the
FBI recently for allegedly lobbying for Pakistan and ISI.
Kumar has refused to take any financial remuneration for
functioning as Centre's interlocutor of Kashmir and also not
attend any further meetings with Ansari.
"I do not wish to say anything about the news report but
yes, I am angry about the smear campaign being indulged into
by Ansari," Kumar told PTI here.
She also hinted that it was difficult for her to attend
meetings with Ansari, a former bureaucrat who retired as Chief
Information Commissioner.
The Home Ministry clarified that Kumar has not resigned
and she is still part of the team of interlocutors. They are
preparing final reports after completing their visits," an
official spokesperson said.
Kumar, who heads the Nelson Mandela Institute of Peace in
Jamia Milia Islamia, had earlier been engaged in back-channel
discussions with moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umer
Farooq and hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
After the arrest of Fai earlier last month, the name of
Dilip Padgaonkar and Kumar started surfacing in the context of
their having attended meetings organised by Fai.
Soon after Ansari had said in Kashmir there was an air of
suspicion as nobody believed the other person and asked "how
can you join a conference without knowing the credibility of
the individuals and the institutions".
This was in reference to Padgaonkar's statement
expressing ignorance about the organisers of the conference.
Ansari acknowledged his two other colleagues were unhappy
over his remarks whereby he had asked them to put their
foreign visits on public domain to avoid media speculation.
Chidambaram had made light of Padgaonkar and Kumar's
participating in conferences organised by Fai.
"Frankly, it has nothing to do with his role as
interlocutor. He went as a journalist some years ago along
with many other journalists, many other civil society members
and human rights activists.
"Whether he should have gone or not is a separate issue.
I don't think that should be linked with his role as an
interlocutor because he did not attend any meeting of Fai
after he was appointed as an interlocutor...I don't think it’s
a fair connection," Chidambaram had said.
The interlocutors have so far made 10 visits to the state
and covered 18 of the 22 districts during which they have met
nearly 5,000 people which includes political leaders, trade
unions, lawyers, student unions and newly-elected panchs and
sarpanchs. The panel has submitted its interim report.
However, the separatists including both factions of
Hurriyat have not met the interlocutors. Former Hurriyat chief
and prominent Shia leader Maulana Abbas Ansari had met one of
the interlocutors but in his individual capacity.