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Kashmir : Govt ready for talks, says PM |
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the Government was ‘willing’ to hold talks with “all shades of public opinion” in Jammu and Kashmir, including the Hurriyat Conference, but ruled out such a dialogue at his level.
Asked specifically whether there was any plan to hold talks at his level, Singh said, “There is no discussion of that sort.” The Prime Minister was talking to reporters before leaving on a three-day visit to participate in the BIMST-EC summit in Bangkok.
Maintaining that the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir was on track, the Union Home Ministry has also reiterated that steps are being taken to decide on a fresh date for talks at the Home Minister’s level in early August in consultation with the Hurriyat leadership. The Ministry’s clarification came in the wake of recent reports in a section of the press regarding some important discussions and decisions taken in the Union Cabinet meeting relating to Jammu and Kashmir. The reports claimed that the Ministry had proposed a new approach to “soften up” the Hurriyat leadership by allowing them to visit a foreign country.
On the militancy front, after a nearly 11-hour gun battle, security forces gunned down two al-Mansoorian militants who had carried out a “suicide attack” on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp on Tuesday (July 27) night in which five CRPF jawans lost their lives and two others were injured.
In the meanwhile, there are reports that Pakistan-based terrorist outfits were using young boys as guinea pigs by making them infiltrate into Indian territory to find loopholes in the security arrangements. The security forces during the past few days have arrested a number of infiltrators and eliminated the militant groups that had entered various border villages carrying remote-control explosive devices and grenades. At least seven Pakistani nationals were arrested during July at different places along the international border in Jammu district where they infiltrated from Pakistan. They were in the age group of 15 to 25 years. They had been sent to the joint interrogation centre of the Border Security Force (BSF), state police and other Central intelligence agencies.
A top security officer suspected that these boys were being used as guinea pigs by the mentors of terrorism in Pakistan to find new routes for infiltrating the trained ultras. Such probing missions by the young Pakistani boys have increased ever since the Amarnath (a Hindu shrine) pilgrimage began. Elaborate security arrangements have been made this time for the pilgrimage by deploying the Army and paramilitary forces.
UPA not availing advantages in the Valley
There is a view that the Congress-led UPA government has certain advantages over its political predecessor in dealing with the situation in J&K state. Observers feel since the Congress, unlike the BJP, not only has a presence in the Kashmir valley but also other Muslim-majority parts of the state, it can provide a far better link between the Muslims of the state and the people elsewhere in the country. The party has a similar advantage vis-a-vis other regional Valley-based political outfits, since it exists in all parts of the state and can thus be a fit instrument of emotional integration between its three regions.
However, the UPA government, observers say, has somehow failed to press home its obvious advantages. Instead, it has managed to further strain its state-level coalition with the ruling PDP. While the Congress is competing with the BJP in catering to the populist sentiment in Jammu, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is competing with the National Conference in the Valley. Two recent instances show how the coalition partners are divided along regional lines. First, a PDP minister supported the public protest against the decision of the State Public Service Commission to reduce the share of the Valley in the state administrative services. Second, Congress ministers resigned in opposition to the reduction of the period of Amarnath pilgrimage from two months to one.
Indeed, all recruitments, promotions and development activity, according to observers, are now being viewed by the coalition partners from the narrow viewpoint of their respective regions. That the state cabinet has not met for almost five months is an eloquent commentary on the way the government is functioning.
While Jammu’s politics has always centred on the issue of regional discrimination or ‘Kashmiri domination’, such issues have received a fresh impetus even in the Valley due to two factors. First, as the role of militancy and secessionist politics in articulating popular discontent shrinks, the latter is getting diverted into regional claims and complaints. Second, the presence of the Congress-led government at the Centre has enhanced the weight of the predominantly Jammu-based party in the state coalition.
The first task of the Congress, it is felt, is to restore normal governance, and ensure a cohesive and smooth functioning of the cabinet as well as the coordination committee. The latter end is hardly possible in the current situation when a non-resident Pradesh (state) Congress Committee president also doubles up as president of the coordination committee.
The support in the NDA manifesto for the creation of autonomous regional councils in J&K state, at the obvious behest of the BJP, and the evasive reference to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in the party’s manifesto - after vilifying the idea of regional autonomy and its sponsors for over 50 years - should facilitate the task of the Congress-led government in federalising and decentralising the state administration. Then, the committed support of the Left on the issue will make things easier, argue observers.
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