KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will fly to Srinagar for the fourth time to get one final word about Kashmir.
Unlike meeting delegations, he will get the leaders from all the unionist parties for a joint brainstorming to suggest Delhi what it should do.
This consensus will finally be discussed by the cabinet in Delhi, highly informed sources said.
Though not many details are available about the new way-out for moving ahead but it was clear that the all-party mechanism is not interested in moving ahead on anything unless it does not get a go-ahead from J&K unionists.
It was not known when the event will take place but sources said that all the parties including NC, PDP, Congress and BJP will be invited to this off-camera meeting.
This marks a clear departure from the earlier policy that Delhi had made public that it would strictly go ahead as per the suggestions that its ally PDP will make. Now BJP will consider what J&K’s unionists block would suggest.
The presentation that was made by the ministry, on basis of the inputs that APD got during the overnight stay in Srinagar, also suggested that the government must isolate the separatists and tackle them sternly.
Voices by some the lawmakers that dialogue should be initiated, as they said, in Srinagar while talking to some of the separatist leaders apparently did not find space in the presentation, sources said.
These decisions were taken in an all party conference in Delhi in which, interestingly, the Home Ministry blamed the J&K government for the worst situation in Kashmir. Interestingly, in a formal presentation the state government was accused for not fulfilling the promises it had made.
On the promises front, it was said that state government has not distributed the flood relief properly.
Different categories of impacted population were given different relief amounts – some Rs 3000, some five lakh rupees and many families nothing.
They also insisted that corruption continues to be a major concern. It said the incumbent government has failed even investigation a single officer for corruption.
Interestingly, another slide suggested enhanced relief for migrants has not been released. The same slide talked about certain problems that Paharis, Gujjars, Bakerwals and Sikhs are facing.
Interestingly, however, all the participants insisted that it was time to back the state government led by Ms Mehbooba Mufti and not destabilize it.
Later, the meeting adopted a resolution asking Delhi and the state government in Srinagar to initiate dialogue with “all stake holders without compromising national sovereignty”. It asked Kashmiri people “to shun the path of violence” and avail the option of dialogue.
It made no reference to the separatists or the Hurriyat Conference, a few leaders of which, had quick chats despite having decided not to talk. Syed Ali Geelani, however, had closed doors on Sitaram Yechury and three other lawmakers who had gone to see him in their individual capacity.
The lawmakers shared key findings with the meeting.
Terming the volatile situation as “immediate law and order situation”, they had 15 points to share. These included their concern over “misleading statements by the state political leaders”; the unrest being restricted to the rural South Kashmir and “daily Hartal (shutdown) calendar being issued by Pakistan side in the name of separatists”.
They offered various suggestions as well.
These included withdrawing curfew restrictions, reopening of schools, making movement of civilians hassle free, invoking the Public Safety Act (PSA) to arrest the accused but making the process fair, releasing all prisoners, putting a halt to harassment of youth, fix accountability for excessive use of force, relief package to those killed in civil unrest, compensation for eye injuries and stoppage of pellet guns immediately.
Interestingly, the home ministry presentation also noted that the visiting AP delegation was also urged, by various delegations, to hold plebiscite as per UN resolutions and hold discussions with separatists and Pakistan.
The Home Ministry presentation said that the delegation was warned that if the current agitation continues for some time, the pro-India political forces will become weaker, if not irrelevant.
Some other issues coming in focus during the delegation’s visit include need to regulate the state government’s advertisements to newspapers, radicalisation of Madrasas and Masjids, need to probe funding of unrest and newly built Masjids, stoppage of drug smuggling and infiltration from Pakistan, dealing with cross border terrorism forcefully, reducing footprints of military and paramilitary forces from the civilian areas, and financial relaxation for the business losses.
Offering a brief statistical snapshot of the happenings, the Home Ministry presentation said that in the 1732 incidents that took place in J&K since July 8, 60 civilians and two security personnel have died.
It said Srinagar district had the highest number of incidents – 411 with four civilian deaths, followed by 259 in Baramulla that saw 3 slain while four districts of South Kashmir had the high toll of 37 civilians and two security personnel killed.
