Srinagar, June 6: Commenting on the National Conference manifesto, senior National Conference leader and Member Parliament Muhammad Shafi Uri said it belonged to the party and not to the coalition government. “So when coalition government is formed, there are common issues of the two partners that are taken up for implementation. Rest of the agenda is implemented at the party level,” he told Greater Kashmir. “The government has been in power for just one year. The past year (2010) I don’t consider because it was entirely lost in the unrest. So we still have almost four years to go and I am sure the common issues shall be taken up for implementation.”
 The NC leader agreed that the SAC and SVC should be made functional without any delay. “I am of the firm opinion that you can’t let such institutions suffer if you are to fight corruption. So it is high time to make them functional,” he said.
 He said the government and MPs are working for strengthening of the cross LoC trade. “Everyone is making efforts to address the difficulties that the traders face,” he said.
 While the senior National Conference leader and Member Parliament, Dr Mehboob Beg, feels there is need to review performance of the party in the past two years, he said issues like restoration of autonomy is a continuous process. “It is the question of continuous struggle which we have to carry on. Blame us if we are not making efforts towards it. But don’t blame us for not getting the results. For instance, the separatists have been for a cause for years, whether one agrees to that or not, but have they achieved the results? Can you blame them for not achieving them? So far as our efforts in these two years are concerned, you will not miss a single occasion where we did not talk about autonomy,” Beg told Greater Kashmir, when asked why National Conference is not vigorously pursuing its autonomy demand.
 He said: “For the first time, an elected Chief Minister says accession is okay but there is no merger. For the first time again, me as NC Member Parliament, advocated restoration of autonomy in the Parliament. Even I got applaud from separatists for a speech in the Parliament. And then interlocutors have been trying their best to evolve a solution to the problems in Kashmir. The chief interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar has clearly stated that Kashmir is an emotional problem and that Government of India has made mistakes in the past. This all shows that we have not put down our cards so far as restoration of autonomy is concerned.”
 On revocation of AFPSA and PSA, Beg said, “If you have a situation which we saw last year, we cannot and we won’t achieve much on this front. Very unfortunately, the kind of a crisis in Pakistan if seen in totality will get the revocation of these laws delayed.”
 He said, “We want them to be revoked. I think if the present situation continues for sometime, we must go ahead with scrapping such laws one by one, if not all of a sudden.”
 On corruption, Beg said the state government has to put brakes on the menace. “This is one of the biggest hurdles to state’s progress and prosperity. Without any delay, the institutions like SVC and SAC should be revived and they should be headed by men of impeccable integrity,” he said.
 Beg said if the cross LoC trade is made symbolic, it won’t yield the desired results. “There should be no problem if the list of traded items is increased and necessary facilities are put in place for the same,” he said.
 Finally, Beg acknowledged that there is need to review the performance of the party in its third year in power. “Definitely, I would request my party president and Chief Minister to kindly have a get-together. This is our third year and we must review our performance,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 The Pradesh Congress Committee Chief, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, said the fulfilment of promises mentioned in the Congress manifesto is a continuous process. “Many assurances have already been fulfilled. We are constantly working on other things as well,” he said.
 Soz said the state government is trying to revive the institutions like the SAC and SVC. “I hope to see these institutions in place in very near future,” he said, asserting that “we must certainly do the periodic review of the manifesto and see what is left to be done is done at the earliest.”
 Senior Congress leader and Minister for Public Health and Engineering, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, claims the poll promises have been fulfilled. “I think we have done the maximum of what we had promised in the manifesto,” he said. “We have been successfully able to hold the Panchayat elections and take the democracy to the grassroots. Regarding revival of tourism, we have done it to a great extent. Unfortunately we lost most part of 2009 and 2010 to trouble in the Valley. So that obviously acts as an impediment to the process of development.”
 Taj said there are still three and a half years left with the coalition government. “Whatever requires to be done will be done during this time,” he said. “But we are quite satisfied with our performance. And that is the biggest achievement.”
 He said Congress was committed to the development of Jammu and Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Jun 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Jun 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 7 Jun 2011 00:00:00 IST