KL Report
SRINAGAR
Paying rich compliments to people of the state for displaying exemplary poise, dignity and maturity in the face of very serious mischief in Kishtwar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday alleged the recent incidents in the Chenab Valley and their fallout at some isolated places resulted from the gross failures of the coalition government.
At a meeting of its highest policy making forum, the Political Affairs Committee of the party held here today a review was made of the general political situation prevailing in the state. The Committee also discussed party affairs in the context of the forthcoming general elections to Lok Sabha.
According to a statement of PDP to KNS the meeting was presided over by the party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and attended by the president Mehbooba Mufti, former deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig and other members including Sardar Rangil Singh, general secretaries Mohammad Dilawar Mir and Thakur Balbir Singh, former Ministers Tariq Hameed Karra and Qazi Mohammad Afzal, Ch. Zulfiqar Ali MLA, Naeem Akhtar, Syed Altaf Bukhari, Tarlok Singh Bajwa and Ved Mahajan. All the leaders presented their points of view on various aspects of the prevailing situation with the summing up of it by Baig.
The meeting felt that it had now become clearly evident that Kishtwar incident had resulted from the “inaction, incompetence and possible collusion by the state government as it had failed to take action on intelligence reports that had reached it more than ten days ahead of the actual trouble that engulfed the district on Eid.”
“The state government had also been hand in glove with some communal elements out to disturb peace and had even allowed them to roam free for many years even though cases of serious nature on some similar previous occasions had been registered against them,” it alleged.
Expressing relief at the positive and constructive attitude displayed by members of all the communities in both Kashmir and Jammu regions the meeting noted that the disruptive elements had failed in the face of people’s disapproval of their designs. The meeting felt that the Kishtwar incident which was obviously aimed at setting the state on fire had actually established that the people of the state can no longer be manipulated for petty political interests and that they can rise above any provocation or emotional set back in the interest of communal amity and brotherhood. “This was a positive development for which the Peoples Democratic Party has been making serious efforts over the past decade especially in the last five years and it feels vindicated that its mission to connect various regions and communities have withstood a serious test” the meeting observed.
There was a consensus in the meeting that the party has to fulfil a larger historic role in providing a platform to all sections of the society of Jammu & Kashmir which is marked by the variety of a continental dimensions. “In stark contrast to the attempts by other parties who have traditionally tried to create dissensions and disunity among the different regions and communities for their political interests the PDP’s effort has been focused on carrying along all sections so that their combined energies and popular support could be harnessed for empowerment of the state and its residents which had been seriously compromised in the past. The party views people’s power as the only force to revive the glory of the state and reclaim its bartered away resources and building a modern welfare state which is free from discord, despair and fear,” the meeting observed.
While discussing the political scenario in the light of the upcoming Lok sabha elections the committee felt the need to reach out to the people of the state with a massage about the importance of having credible, honest and articulate representatives in the highest democratic forum of the country. The meeting noted that unfortunately in the past the political setup in the state had not focused on the quality of representatives sent to the parliament which could channelize the peoples aspirations at the national level. Even currently when the state had been thrown from one crisis to another and had faced atrocities of all kinds, mis-governence, inefficiency, corruption and incompetence the representatives from the state had been either disinclined, incompetent or out rightly compromised in making the voice of the people heard in the important forums of Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The meeting noted that it was time that the people of the state were made aware of the importance of having an effective representation in the parliament especially in view of the party’s resolve to make serious efforts for resolution of the political problem of Jammu & Kashmir. “While it is crucial that the PDP received mandate for resolution in the Assembly elections it was equally important that the state has highly capable representatives in the parliament as ultimately serious issues can be resolved only with a serious and competent engagement at the federal level. That would be in line with the PDP’s agenda of resolving Jammu & Kashmir through serious dialogue with the union rather than confrontation which has made issues in the past more complicated and resulted in wide spread destruction, death and depression,” the meeting observed.
“There are serious issues to be discussed with the centre which are crucial to state’s vital interests and cannot be overlooked”, the meeting felt and observed that the new MPs from the state will have to be equal to the task as the state cannot continue to go by default at the central level as has happened till now.
The meeting was of the view that the party must try and field very serious and competent candidates of stature to provide a better alternative to the voters who would be the ultimate decision makers.
The meeting also took decisions about mobilizing the party cadres for a more effective political campaign to achieve the goals by the party leadership.
