No recommendations, report still being drafted, say J&K interlocutors

New Delhi: The group of interlocutors on Jammu & Kashmir has contradicted media reports suggesting it was ready to recommend a pre-1953 status for the strife-torn state, saying its final recommendations did not exist "even in their embryonic form."

"The report is purely speculative in nature. The group of interlocutors is presently engaged in preparing a draft of its final report which is expected to be submitted to the Government of India before its term ends on October 12, 2011.

"The three members of the group are yet to enumerate, let alone discuss and finalise the recommendations. They will do so after they return from their last visit to Jammu and Kashmir in the latter half of this month," the group said in a statement.

"So", the interlocutors said, "There is no question of anyone in the government, let alone outside the government, being privy to the final recommendation. These recommendations do not exist in their embryonic form at present," the statement said on the media report which had quoted highly placed sources in the government.

The group consists of eminent media personality Dilip Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former chief information commissioner MM Ansari.

Media reports had suggested that the interlocutors were likely to recommend that Jammu & Kashmir be accorded exclusive jurisdiction of all departments except defence, foreign affairs and communications, a position very close to that prevailing in the state prior to 1953.