By IANS,
Jammu : A study group of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) arrived here Monday to make a fresh assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The group is led by the party’s former president Rajnath Singh.
Talking to media, Rajnath Singh said: “We have come to understand the situation which has come about in the past one-and-a-half years. Jammu and Kashmir has not shown any signs of recurrence of violence and clashes in the past 20 months.”
The BJP leader said that the idea behind their study was to “apprise ourselves” of the latest situation, so that the party can work accordingly. “This, however, doesn’t mean that there is any change in our original position,” Singh said.
The study group was constituted by the BJP last year, after interlocutors on Kashmir – journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former information commissioner – started interacting with the people of the state.
Rajnath Singh said that the interlocutors’ report on Kashmir was “nothing but a repeat of old things. Therefore, there is nothing much to comment upon.”
“This report should have been made public when Parliament was in session. The timings of the release of the report makes us suspicious of the whole thing,” Singh said.
The group will visit Rajouri and also the Kashmir Valley, during its current visit to the state.