Home Minister P. Chidambaram has made light of Dilip Padgaonkar, the Centre's chief interlocutor on Kashmir, participating in conferences organised by Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was arrested in the U.S. for being an ISI conduit for carrying out propaganda on Kashmir.
“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 Dr. Fai after he was appointed interlocutor...I don't think it's a fair connection,” Mr. Chidambaram told PTI.
Mr. Padgaonkar, appointed by the Centre to talk to various shades of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir, has found himself at the centre of a controversy after it emerged that he was among the many journalists and others from India who had attended conferences organised by Dr. Fai in the U.S. and elsewhere.
