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| 'PDP not for instant withdrawl of troops' | | | Jammu, February 22
PDP Patron Mufti Mohd Sayeed expected to visit New Delhi on Thursday to hold discussion with congress man-friday Pranab Mukherjee cancelled his trip triggering fresh round of speculations here in the power circles whether Mufti was invited by the congress leader or not. In another related development when PDP chief Mehbooba was asked about travel plans of her father by mediapersons in Jammu on Thursday she claimed that she had no such information. When she was quizzed again and asked to confirm whether Mufti Mohd Sayeed would visit New Delhi as also claimed by Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Qarra earlier in the day to hold talks with union Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mehbooba maintained that she had no information about any travel plans of Mufti Mohd Sayeed.
Meanwhile, PDP leadership on Thursday made fresh attempt to clear the doubts in the minds of the people by suggesting that they are not pressing for instant demilitarization in Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, "we favour gradual withdrawal of troops so that land and houses, including orchards, occupied by the security forces were restored to the owners", the PDP said.
Commenting on the reported threat by the PDP of pulling out of the coalition Government in case its demand for demilitarization and repeal of the Armed Forces special powers Act was not accepted by the coalition partners-congress, the Party general secretary,Mr Nizam-ud-Din Bhat said here today “we want gradual reduction in the strength of the troops deployed in the state.We are not demanding instant demilitarization.”
He said that “till today the PDP has not dished out any threat of quitting the coalition Government.”He stated that the party leadership was discussing the issues of demilitarization and scrapping of Armed Forces Special Powers Act not only with its coalition partner, the Congress, but with the central Government also. In this connection a senior party leader, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig,had met Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad,in Jammu yesterday.
Party sources said that Mr Baig had gone to Mr Azad for conveying views of Mufti Mohd.Sayeed, PDP patron, on demilitarization and the repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The main aim was to secure Mr Azad’s support for the demand so that the matter could be discussed with the centre by the party MP,Ms Mehbooba Mufti,who heads the organization.
While the PDP leadership has started airing its demand on withdrawal of troops with vigour and has secured support from another coalition partner,people’s Democratic Front (PDF),headed by Hakim Mohd.Yasin,Transport Minister, senior functionaries of the Army and the intelligence agencies have already conveyed to the centre that the time was not ripe for carrying out demilitarization in the state.
A senior officer of a central intelligence agency said that on the basis of the experience “we had in 2003,when noncombat operations were initiated for motivating militants for declaring a ceasefire,we do not want militants to get another chance for strengthening and extending their bases in the state.” The officer explained that during the period noninitiation of combat operations were in force militants extended their bases in areas which had been already sanitized.
At the sametime official sources said today that the Government was considering gradual withdrawl of troops especially from those areas where the level of militancy related violence has declined considerably.Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig,a former Deputy Chief Minister and a senior PDP leader, has also supported the idea of withdrawal of troops from areas which had been cleared of the menace of militancy.
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