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Kashmir : Coalition partners fight, but breaking point far off

	December 25, 2006

The two main constituents of the ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), engaged in a war of words last week including talk of dissolution of the state Assembly, but observers say that the tiff is not expected to result in the break up of the alliance.



Differences between the two main coalition partners came to the surface on Monday, Dec. 18 when there was a verbal brawl between senior Congress and PDP ministers during a Cabinet meeting over a circular which, according to PDP Ministers, was aimed at undermining their authority and reducing them to mere dummies. The situation took an ugly turn when Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad intervened and reportedly said that he would prefer to dissolve the Assembly and go in for fresh elections instead of withdrawing the circular. Later, at a talk with newspersons, Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra, who belongs to the PDP, said that his party is ready to go in for elections any time. Again on Thursday, December 21, the PDP attacked what it called the one-up-man-ship of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for allowing issues to flare up which have an adverse impact on the health of the coalition government.



PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, however, kept mum on the issue and instead chose his trusted lieutenant and a close friend of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, PDP leader Muzaffar Hussein Baig to send across the message to the Congress that in a coalition government, all parties are equal stakeholders and nobody should act like a big brother. Speaking at a public meeting in Jammu in the presence of the Mufti, Baig said “Yeh coalition kisi ek adami ke jagir nahin hain,” adding that both the Congress and PDP are equal stakeholders in this coalition and it is not a personal property of any one individual.



Referring to the apparent rift in the government, Baig said all those people who are eager to celebrate fall of the Congress-PDP coalition are befooling themselves as it will last its full term. “Our coalition is not a marriage of convenience that it will break on trivial issues. It is based on principles and it will last its full term.” Baig said asserting that differences should not be treated as bickerings within the coalition.



PDP patron Mufti Mohd. Sayeed chose not to touch the ongoing row and began his address by welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visionary speech at Amritsar as a path-breaking initiative.



On peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue, he said, “We are at the threshold of creating new history in the region, and God forbid, if this initiative fails, history would never forgive us,” he said. Eulogising the role of the Congress party in tackling similar issues, the Mufti said the Congress has the experience and capability of resolving the challenges facing the country and it has settled such problems in Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Tamil Nadu. “I am sure it would grab the opportunity and settle the issue of Jammu and Kashmir as well.”





Task force recommends Rs. 8,300 crore package



The Task force set up by the Prime Minister on the development of Jammu and Kashmir has recommended a Rs. 8302 crore package for the economic reconstruction of the state which has been ravaged by militancy during the past two decades. The 9-member task force led by noted economist Dr. C. Rangarajan submitted its report to the Prime Minister on December 22. Key recommendations include the transfer of the 390 MW Dulhasti hydroelectric project to the state, a Rs. 1,750 crore rural roads development programme and a satellite business city estimated to cost Rs. 200 crore to decongest the state’s summer capital, Srinagar, and the development of a special investment zone to attract industry so as to generate much-needed employment especially for the educated youth.



Identifying power as the most critical infrastructure bottleneck to attract private sector investment in the state, the panel suggested a clutch of measures - both short and long term - to redress the crises in this sector. Seeking a Rs. 4,933 crore central compensation to National Hydel Power Corporation for immediate transfer of the Dulhasti project to the Jammu and Kashmir government, it suggested several measures to manage the existing capacity in the power sector. In a special reference to tourism and horticulture, the Rangarajan Committee has suggested fast track completion of road and rail projects in the valley.





Rein in militants : Mufti tells Pakistan



PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed has asked Pakistan to rein in militants operating in the state to give peace a chance. Addressing a news conference in Srinagar on December 17, on his return from a foreign tour, during which he addressed the UN General Assembly, the Mufti said that Pakistan needed to advise militants operating in the state to give up the gun. He said the political and dialogue process has taken precedence over the gun and the militants should fall in line.



Speaking in Jammu on Dec. 21, the Mufti said the recent initiatives from both India and Pakistan on Kashmir not only represent a fundamental, but possibly an irreversible change in the way the Kashmir issue is being handled now. He said the time has come to find a peaceful, realistic and acceptable solution of the Kashmir issue and change the history of the sub-continent for good.











JKLF gets new chairman



The Pakistan-based wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), the first militant outfit in the state has replaced its chairman Ammanullah Khan by Saghir Khan, until now secretary general of the organisation. The change was effected by the Central Executive Committee of the JKLF at a meeting on December 17. Ammanullah had co-founded the secessionist group with Maqbool Butt in 1966. Butt was hanged to death in Delhi for killing a CID official.





36 injured in jail riot



Thirty-six people including 15 policemen and 21 terrorists from Pakistan and Afghanistan were injured in day-long clashes inside the high security jail at Kot Bhalwal, on the outskirts of Jammu city, on December 17. The policemen were injured when terrorists attacked them with stones and iron rods. The police used teargas and lathi charge to end the violence.



The trouble began following the seizure of cell phones from the inmates about a fortnight ago. The Pakistani and Afghan terrorists thwarted efforts of the jail authorities to search the barracks and turned violent when the jail staff accompanied by the police started searching the barracks on Dec. 17.





Pakistan raising defence structures on the borders



There are reports that Pakistan has taken advantage of the ceasefire on the borders of Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen and raise massive defence structures near the border. Director General of Border Security Force Ashish Kumar Mitra said in Jammu, “Pakistan has come up with pill boxes, bunkers, defence structures from where small arms can be fired. Though these structures cannot withstand tank attacks and weather major wars, the fact remains that these have come up in the past couple of years when the ceasefire was in force.”