Rustam
JAMMU, Feb 18: The February 1, 2014 decision of the NC-Congress coalition government on new administrative units has not only evoked a very strong reaction from the Kashmiri separatists, PDP and CPI-M, but also from a section of the Kashmir-based Congress leadership. Two Kashmiri Congress leaders have openly criticized the state government and repeatedly. One belongs to the Ghulam Nabi Azad camp and he is none other than former Cabinet Minister Abdul Gani Vakil. He has demanded review of the decision atleast twice saying the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on new administrative units was irrational and discriminatory. The leader is Salman Soz and JKPCC president Saif-ud-Din Soz's son. Salman Soz is also spokesperson of the Congress party.
Salman Soz is more critical of the decision. He not only rejects the report and decision irrational but also says that he is opposed to the very idea of new administrative units for various reasons. On Sunday, he reiterated his opposition to the official decision and, among other things, said: "It seems the whole issue of new administrative units has left a lot of people unhappy. As people know, I was opposed from the very beginning to the creation of these units because I felt this was not in the long-term interests of the State and its people. But, I think this decision has divided people as well...I spent two days in several villages of North Kashmir's Baramulla talking to people. He wants to ask the government and opposition leaders who are supporters of these units, why does Baramulla have only one Tehsil while Sangrama will have two and Rafiabad three? What is the logic for this? What about the large Narwaw belt or the heavily populated Delina, Singhpora and Kandi areas?
I find the whole exercise strange and it has made people unhappy. At least in Baramulla, there is much unhappiness about these new units and our leadership, both ruling parties and opposition parties, must explain these decisions to affected people transparently".
What Salman Soz said did suggest that the Congress is a divided house --divided house in the sense that the JKPCC president, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and a host of other Congress leaders, especially from Jammu province, have been hailing the government decision on a daily basis. The Congress needs to put its own house in order before going public on this sensitive issue. |
