Srinagar, Aug 17: Calling upon New Delhi to display the confidence, maturity and understanding of a large and strong democracy, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed Tuesday regretted that in case of Kashmir only the insecurities fanned by the hawks were scripting its policies.
In a statement Mufti expressed his deep anguish at the present crisis that was taking a heavy toll of life in unbridled use of force by the government.
Mufti said the death of yet another young man of Islamabad, Muhammad Abbas Dhobi indicated how callously the situation was being treated. Condoling the loss to the family he said the government had failed to curb its forces and the unkept promise of action against the guilty troopers had only resulted in more tragedies. He said the killing earlier of three innocent boys from the town was a proved instance of cold-blooded murder and the government could have made it a test case for transparent accountability process which could have prevented more such atrocities.
Referring to the non serious attitude of New Delhi to the crisis in Kashmir he reiterated his view that the problem would not disappear without actually resolving it. “Trying to push it under the carpet in the hope of getting rid of it had cost the whole region its peace and Kashmir has had to pay the heaviest price,” he said and added that it was unfortunate that the cries of pain from the state had failed to evoke a response from the national leadership which was still in the mode of denial and strong-arm methods which had only further aggravated the problem.
On the recent statements of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh about the current crisis, Mufti said it was sad listening to the Prime Minister virtually negating from Red Fort what he himself had set out to do in his televised address only a few days before that. “How can conditions be set for any kind of a dialogue as the Prime minister seemed to be doing if a solution is to be sought between diametrically opposite positions through mutual discussions” he wondered. He said the dialogue has to be unconditional and has to engage all opinions, more importantly with those who question the status quo.
Mufti said there was a need for a serious political initiative on the lines of the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who had advocated a dialogue within the parameters of humanity “Insaniyat”. By talking of a solution away from the beaten track, Vajpayee had set off a new and refreshing thought process on Kashmir which had started showing results too, he said and cautioned against any further delay in reaching out to the people in the state in a meaningful manner. He said the non serious approach to issues like the scrapping of AFSPA had created a sense of cynicism about anything that the government stated in the context of Kashmir. Although the issue had been raised constantly since 2007, it was responded to through tentative statements only when things seemed out of control here whereas what was needed is starting a process which is nowhere in evidence.
Mufti said lately the only response of the union government to the immense tragedy of Kashmir has been the stock one liner: “there won’t be any change of guard in the state government.” This attitude conveyed only one message to the people that the union government is only interested in who should run the government here and not how it actually functions, he said. Democracy he said does not mean the numbers in assembly alone but the commitment of a government and participation of the people in the process of governance but both are absent in today’s Jammu and Kashmir. He said the daily firmans from Delhi for the state government to do this and not do that does not only underline the irrelevance of present set up but also highlights the disconnect with the people’s sentiment. He said with 60 young people dead, countless injured and hundreds rendered disabled, jails filled up with politicians and teenagers, endless curfews, demonstrations, government system collapsed and total dislocation of life for nearly three months one wonders what more does the union government wait for to start a process of political resolution.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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