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Kashmir : No consensus at all party meeting |
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An all-party meeting convened by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in Srinagar on May 12 failed to arrive at a consensus on the crucial issues of increase in the number of Assembly seats, delimitation of the segments and rights for the refugees from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The meeting, however, agreed on setting up a committee to give its report on various issues within ten days.
National Conference president Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti stayed away from the meeting.
On the issue of increase in the number of Assembly seats, there were differences between the political parties from Kashmir and Jammu regions. The State Cabinet has already taken a decision to increase the number of seats by 25 per cent. But the proposal has been stalled because of the demand by certain parties from the Jammu region to increase the number of seats according to the population, thus demanding more share for the Jammu region.
Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Azad said differences are bound to be there in a democratic set up, but they can be resolved only through dialogue.
Yasin Malik asks Vajpayee to rise above domestic politics
JKLF chairman Yasin Malik has urged former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to rise above the pulls and pressures of domestic politics and strengthen the ongoing Kashmir peace process. In a letter to Vajpayee, Yasin Malik drew his attention to recent statements from the BJP not at all conducive to the peace process.
“This peace process is your baby and you cannot call it an illegitimate child,” Malik reminded Vajpayee while urging him to play the role of the elder Statesman of South Asia.
“If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared the current peace process “irreversible,” then bold steps are inevitably needed - sooner rather than later. Knowing your persistence for peace and your desire for a solution to the Kashmir issue, it is not unrealistic for me to expect that you will build political will in India and publicly urge Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seize this opportunity and move forward creatively and boldly with the current peace process,” Malik said.
The JKLF chairman recalled Vajpayee’s declaration of unilateral ceasefire and offer of talks “under the constitution of insaniyat [humanitarian].”
At that time, the united Hurriyat Conference, under the leadership of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, had supported the dialogue process to be carried forward.
During that time, Malik recalled meeting Dr. Singh who took a Congress party delegation to Vajpayee and openly endorsed the Vajpayee-government’s initiative to start a serious peace process.
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