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Kashmir : Congress-PDP rift widens

	December 26, 2005

Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohd. Sayeed skipped the crucial meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir coalition partners on Wednesday, Dec. 21, on the eve of the Assembly session which began the next day. Observers say that the Mufti’s absence at the first meeting of the coalition partners since Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as Chief Minister indicates that his relationship with Azad is strained beyond repair. Both leaders have been trying to ignore each other in the recent past.



The meeting called by the Chief Minister at his official residence was, however, attended by all coalition partners including legislators of PDP, PDF, CPI(M), Panthers Party, associate members of the Congress and Independents. They discussed the agenda of the Assembly session.



Though no official statement was issued by People’s Democratic Party explaining the absence of the former Chief Minister, sources in the PDP said that the Mufti did not deem it fit to attend the meeting of the coalition partners under the chairmanship of junior leaders from the Congress party. The meeting was chaired by Ghulam Nabi Azad.





Omar Abdullah re-elected NC president



Former Union Minister Omar Abdullah has been re-elected National Conference president for the second consecutive term of three years. Speaking after his re-election, Omar Abdullah asked both New Delhi and Islamabad to take away their guns from the soil of Kashmir to facilitate peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. He said that in the National Conference view, the proposal of restoration of greater autonomy to the state is the best possible solution to the dispute.



The greater autonomy proposal envisaged by the National Conference was approved by the State Assembly through a resolution in the year 2000, but was rejected by the then BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre.



Omar Abdullah said, “We cannot wait for complete end to violence to find a resolution to the Kashmir issue. The process for that has to start.” He said both India and Pakistan were opposed to the idea of “Independent Kashmir.”



The NC chief sought a political package for Kashmir in which the opinion of all sections of the people should be taken into consideration. He asked New Delhi not to repeat its mistakes vis-a-vis Kashmir. “It cannot be solved by treating Kashmir as an internal problem,” he said.



“If Kashmir is your internal problem, then for God’s sake, tell me, why are you talking with Pakistan on Kashmir, what is Shimla Accord, Lahore Declaration, Agra Summit and many other parts of negotiations,” he said posing questions to the leadership in Delhi.



Abdullah hinted at a round table conference on Kashmir saying that it was expected in the next two months. “Leaders from both separatist and mainstream camps will be taking part in this conference,” he said.



Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that resolution of Kashmir was not possible until and unless “Leadership of India, Pakistan and Kashmir sit together and find a way out acceptable to all parties to the dispute.”



The National Conference advocacy of greater autonomy as a solution to the Kashmir issue has found no takers among the other opposition parties. A senior APHC leader, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, said it was unwise to equate self-rule with greater autonomy as was being done by Omar Abdullah. He said, “Kashmir issue needed to be resolved through trilateral talks in which representatives of people of Kashmir and `Azad’ Kashmir were involved.”



Another APHC leader, Abdul Gani Bhat, said : “We are not going to support the pre-1953 constitutional position because it will again amount to slavery.



Sayed Ali Shah Geelani has already opposed any third option, saying that “accession with India or Pakistan is the only solution to the Kashmir issue.



The state unit of the BJP, Jammu Mukti Morcha, and the RSS-led state Morcha are also opposed to the grant of greater autonomy.



Army providing power to remote villages



After helping in quake relief, the Army is helping people tide over power shortage in Kashmir. It is providing power generated from 300 mini hydro projects to thousands of people in remote villages in Uri, Tangdhar, Kupwara and Bandipore. As many as 85 villages not covered in the conventional electrification circuit, now receive round-the-clock power.



The Army has completed survey for around 500 more mini hydel projects in Kashmir.



Deputy Director of Army’s Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, Brig. S.M. Mehta says the scheme involving micro hydel projects would benefit thousands of poor people in villages of the Valley. “Work and survey of several projects is in progress. He said, militancy and tough terrain deprived many areas in Kashmir of electricity. These projects will raise the living standards of villagers in remote pockets of Kashmir,” he says.



Designed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, these projects are managed by the Army’s Electronic and Mechanical Services based at 15 Corps Headquarters. Each project has a capacity of generating 5 and 10 KW and the cost of each is Rs. 3 to 5 lakh. “The technology used is simple, easily maintainable and cost-effective,” says Mehta.





Left parties unhappy with WTO deal



Differences on economic policy issues between the UPA Government and Left parties intensified during the last week. The Left parties walked out of the Lok Sabha on Thursday, December 22, after they failed to secure a commitment from the Government on restoration of the EPF interest rate to 9.5 per cent. The Left parties warned that the Manmohan Singh Government would meet the same fate as that of the NDA if it pursued “anti-people” policies. They found support from the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Shiv Sena as they also walked out along with the Left parties.



About 50 MPs from various parties also had a meeting with the Prime Minister to press the demand for maintaining a 9.5 per cent interest rate on EPF deposits. Dr. Manmohan Singh conceded little ground and said that with the inflation rate remaining steady, the rate of interest was adequate. But he said that he would take up the matter with the Labour Minister and the Finance Minister.



The EPF organization’s proposal to invest upto 10 per cent of the corpus in debt instruments and equity linked mutual fund schemes is likely to draw more fire from the Left parties.



Despite Commerce Minister Kamal Nath’s statement that India’s concerns at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were fully addressed in the agreement reached at the ministerial conference of the WTO in Hong Kong, the Left parties have attacked the Manmohan Singh Government for what they called failing to protect the interests of farmers as well as of the country. The CPI(M) politburo in a statement said the Government of India has failed to stand up firmly for a more equitable agreement, both for India and developing countries. The statement emphasised that the WTO agreement barely provided any protection to millions of farmers in the country. It said that the WTO deal reinforces an unequal trade regime and commitments on subsidies by advanced countries will not help. It expressed the fear that the developed countries will resort to more trade distorting tactics.



The CPI(M) has alleged a full-fledged scam in the bid process for the restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airports and demanded scrapping of the entire exercise. CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said on Monday, Dec. 19, that the Government should handover the modernisation work of the two airports to the Airports Authority of India and build greenfield or new airports at these and other metropolitan cities. He said if the Government believes in national interest, it should scrap the bid process for restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airports.



Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour headed by S. Sudhakar Reddy has urged the Government to withdraw the Bill providing for reforms in Labour Laws. In its report submitted to Parliament, the panel said the Government had neither consulted the employees nor employer groups before drawing up the Bill.





Parliament approves Reservation Bill



Parliament has approved the Constitution 104th Amendment Bill providing reservation for socially and educationally backward classes besides the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in private unaided educational institutions. The Rajya Sabha adopted the Bill by a majority vote - 172 in favour and 2 against - on Thursday, Dec. 22. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill a day earlier. An amendment to drop the provision of exclusion of minority institutions from the purview of the Bill, moved by Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, was defeated.



In the Lok Sabha, when the Bill was put to vote on Wednesday, there were 331 votes in favour and a mere 17 in opposition. Despite their misgivings on the measure, the dissenting parties including the BJP voted in favour of the legislation since they did not want to be perceived as the stumbling block in the way of such a transparently populist move.



Apart from bringing its critical allies - the Left and the RJD - on board, the Government appeared bolstered by the backing of some key NDA allies like the JD(U).



The members showed up following Whips issued to them by their parties. The Bill required a two-thirds majority to be passed as it sought to overturn a Supreme Court judgement, calling the quotas in private educational institutions unconstitutional.



Though the principal Opposition party, the BJP, had earlier said that it would oppose the Bill, it finally endorsed the move, not wishing to be seen as a “spoiler” by the SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.



The Bill’s passage will enable students belonging to the SCs, STs and OBCs to avail themselves of the benefit of quotas in Government as well as private colleges from the coming academic session.