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Kashmir : Congress silent on state chief-ministership |
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The Congress is reported to have taken a deliberate decision not to have any prior discussions in the party on the terms of its pact with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the pact, the state chief-ministership is to pass on to the Congress by the end of the year.
The two coalition partners had agreed that the PDP would head the Government for the first three years after which the baton would be handed over to the Congress for the remaining three year period. PDP Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s term ends in November this year.
The Congress has adopted a cautious approach on the issue on the ground that Jammu and Kashmir is a sensitive state and any discussion on the change of leadership can have serious repercussions. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, AICC leaders said, would address this issue close to the expiry of the deadline.
Senior Congress leaders maintain that its agreement with the PDP still stands and so far, nothing has happened to change the situation, thus indicating that the Congress will take its turn at heading the Government.
Plan to reduce troops deferred
The plan to carry out further reduction in the level of troops in Jammu and Kashmir has been postponed for the time being. Official sources say that this is because the drop in the level of infiltration has not been considerable. There have also been many recent incidents of terrorist attacks.
Militants made a bid on the life of Minister of State for Public Health and Engineering Sayeed Bashir Ahmed on Wednesday, July 6. The Minister escaped unhurt in the incident which took place right in the centre of Srinagar. This is the third attack on a Minister in the last fifteen days.
In another incident, a ruling PDP leader was first kidnapped and then killed in the south Kashmir district of Anantnag. His bullet-ridden body was recovered from a village. Earlier, two Ministers, Pirzada Mohd. Sayeed and G.A. Mir, escaped a bid on their lives on Sunday, July 3, when militants set off an improvised explosive device in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Three persons alleged to be Babbar Khalsa international militants were arrested in Jammu last week by the special cell of the Delhi Police.
Travel advisories on J & K may be withdrawn
Union Tourism Minister Renuka Chaudhary has expressed the hope that various European countries would soon withdraw adverse travel advisories in respect of Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking in Srinagar on July 8, she said the Central Government had pursued the issue of travel advisories with the countries concerned. The Minister said that her Ministry would promote Kashmir tourism the world over.
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