Religious outfits deny meeting Kashmir interlocutors

Kashmir interlocutor Professor Radha Kumar today said members of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat-ahle-Hadees (JaH) met them during their visit to the Ganderbal district which was denied by the religious outfits.

"They (members of JI and JaH) came to one of our meetings in Ganderbal. There were other people also and they were part of a large group," Kumar said.

Kumar, heading the Centrally-appointed team in the absence of Dilip Padgaonkar, and other interlocutor former information commisioner MM Ansari had visited Ganderbal district yesterday.

The two religious parties, which were aligned with the separatist Hurriyat Conference in the past, denied they had met the two interlocutors.

Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, who heads the JaH, said officialy there has been no contact with the interlocutors.


"May be some people in their individual capacity have met them. But such a decision can be taken only with the consent of Shura (the highest decision-making body of JaH)," he said.

Similarly, Jamaat chief Sheikh Ghulam Hassan denied any of its members had met the interlocutors.

"I do not have information about anyone from our party meeting the interlocutors. Officially, no one has met the interlocutors," he said.

JI has been the parent organisation of Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani who headed the group's political wing for many years.