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| It is Atal's baby: Mufti tells BJP | | |
ET REPORTER
Jammu, July 25: A day after the Jammu unit of Bhartiya Janata Party criticised the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his letter to the Peoples Democratic Party patron on troop reduction, the former Chief Minister strongly reacting to the statements reminded the BJP leaders of the initiative taken by the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Following Prime Minister's letter to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed assuring him of positive steps on troop reduction, the BJP leaders particularly its state president Ashok Khajuria had criticised it as a move compromising with the security.
Reacting to the statement of BJP leaders, the Mufti today said that whatever the pace of peace process, it was set in motion by the BJP leader and then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Sayeed said the main strength of the present peace process is that two successive Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh led it personally and created a consensus for peace in the country and the region. He said, now, at a time when Kashmir has started emanating signals of peace and reconciliation amidst a troubled situation in our neighborhood, the negative attitude of some BJP leaders towards the peace process is quite disappointing.
He reminded that it was the then Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who in 2003, amidst an edgy atmosphere in the sub-continent, resolutely set off the reconciliation process, after seeing a strong urge for peace in Jammu & Kashmir. "Everybody in the country including the Congress, which was the main opposition party at that time, fully supported Mr Vajpayee's peace initiative in good spirit," he said.
Strongly disapproving the BJP's unwarranted criticism of the Prime Minister's recent initiatives on Kashmir including the steps taken to thin the deployment of troops and review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Sayeed said such unconstructive utterances from the BJP's central leaders are quite disquieting and these could have a fallout on the fast-changing scenario in the State and the region. "PDP expects the BJP to act like a responsible national opposition party and strengthen the Prime Minister's resolve on Kashmir the same way as was done by the central leadership of the Congress in 2003," he said and added that in the interest of the region's peace, the country's political leadership, cutting across the divide, must seize the historic moment when Kashmir has once again started showing the way forward.
Urging BJP stalwarts Mr Vajpayee and Mr L K Advani to break their conspicuous silence on Kashmir initiatives, Sayeed said instead of allowing the party to draw petty political mileage by hardening its stance on a sensitive issue like Kashmir, BJP leadership must step in and prevent its cadres from undermining the peace process that is vital for the stability and economic prosperity of the country and the region. "I don't understand why a statesman like Mr Vajpayee is keeping mum when so much is happening in and around Kashmir since he launched the peace process from Srinagar in 2003," he said.
Sayeed said without getting discouraged by the lackluster attitude of the BJP, the political leadership in the State and at the Center must further push ahead the peace process in Jammu & Kashmir with focused attention on people-oriented confidence building measures in the interest of peace and prosperity of the people.
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