Constitutional Committee for review of statute provisions in J&K: Report

NEW DELHI: Ruling out a return to the pre-1953 position, Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir have favoured setting up a Constitutional Committee to review all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India to the state extended after 1952.

The report of the interlocutors--Dileep Padgaonkar, Radha Kumar and M M Ansari--which was made public today, proposed a 'New Compact' with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, having three components--political, economic and social and cultural --forming a single package which cannot be accepted on a selective basis.

Under the political component, the report deals with Centre-State relations and internal devolution of powers and suggests a road map listing confidence-building measures that includes review of Disturbed Areas Act and re-appraisal of application of controversial AFSPA.

The report, which was handed over to Home Minister P Chidambaram on October 12 last year, also favoured resumption of the dialogue process between the Centre and Hurriyat Conference "at the earliest".

This should yield visible outcomes and be made interruptible, it said.

On Centre-state relation, the report calls for review of all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India extended to the state after 1952 Delhi agreement.