Congress calls appointment of interlocutor for J&K a 'publicity stunt' by Modi govt

Doubting the "intent" of the NDA government in resolving the Kashmir issue, Congress said the government "wasted" three-and-a-half years during which many precious lives were lost.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Narendra Modi government at the Centre over the appointment of an interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir claiming that it was merely a publicity stunt. Doubting the "intent" of the NDA government in resolving the Kashmir issue, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government "wasted" three-and-a-half years during which many precious lives were lost.

"We are not opposing the decision of the government. But at the fag end of their tenure, they have done this. This is only for publicity. This government has no Kashmir policy," he said. Azad said they had maintained that this was a "political issue" and should be resolved politically.

He alleged that the government only has a divide and rule policy. "They have a policy only on how to divide and rule the country. That was the only policy pursued by foreign rulers," he said.

"For three-and-a-half years, the BJP is talking about 'hot pursuit'. We all opposition parties both inside and outside of Parliament have been talking about 'confidence building' measures, besides 'hot pursuit'," he said.

"No political issue can be resolved by hot pursuit and we had asked the government to talk to all stakeholders. We had said that if you have to take political decision, we have to talk to all stakeholders," he said.

Congress made the statement a day after the Central government announced its decision to appoint former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as an interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir. Sharma, with the rank of Cabinet Secretary, will have complete independence in deciding whom to hold talks with, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said while making the crucial announcement.