Opinion ‘I did not give the letter to IE’

Dear editor: I am writing to clarify that the purported letter of resignation published in The Indian Express (‘I will not attend any meetings with Mr Ansari’,August 10) was not given to your paper by me. I did indeed speak to your reporter about the allegations that were made against me (‘Radha Kumar quits J&K panel after Ansari’s attack’,IE,August 9),but I spoke about my own name alone. I did so because I believe there is a campaign to discredit our mission and forthcoming report even before it is submitted,and irrespective of who we are the mission is an important one.

The conference which I organised in the European parliament in 2006 was in my capacity as a programme director at the Delhi Policy Group,an independent think-tank. The Delhi Policy Group was the sole organiser of the conference,and it was in the nature of a sitting with Baroness Nicholson,who had been appointed to write a report by the European parliament. All the people who attended it were people of the highest integrity. They spoke their opinions freely,without let or hindrance,and in doing so they served the people of India and the people of J & K.

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As a democracy it is incumbent on us to uphold freedom of speech within the bounds of truth and civility. While the Delhi Policy Group is an institution which is widely respected,and the diaspora centres currently in the eye of a storm are dubious,the Indians and Kashmiris who are being maligned for attending meetings of the latter are mostly people who are and should be respected for their courage and selflessness,not denigrated for seeking to engage with people of opposing views.

Yours sincerely,

Radha Kumar Member,Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir