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| FM eats up currency words | | Cornered by all, Karra says was misquoted | | Nirbhay Jammual
Jammu | Jan 5
Being pushed from all corners on the issue of "sovereignty and national integrity", the Finance Minister Tariq Hameed Karra today had to eat a humble pie on his separate currency remarks even as Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig clarified that there was no such proposal either before the Peoples Democratic Party or the Congress.
Interestingly instead of coming to the rescue of his party colleague Karra, the Deputy Chief Minister Baig strongly refuted that any such discussion took place at the party level.
The Finance Minister Karra has been facing an all out criticism for last few days ever since he said that after the self-rule proposal put in place Jammu and Kashmir will have a separate currency. He has been questioned from all corners on if he was talking about severing the association of Jammu and Kashmir from India.
After the Congress party issuing an official statement of displeasure from New Delhi Friday, the Finance Minister today said that he has been quoted out of proportion. He told reporters here that what he said was in context of the South Asian region envisaging a common economy and common currency on the pattern of European Union. To further eat up his earlier statement, the Finance Minister also roped in a view point of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in saying that South Asian can emerge as a common economic bloc.
He said that he had simply repeated the views expressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the need for common currency for South Asia region. He said that he has simply suggested if the top leaders in the South Asian region ponder over the prospects of introducing a common currency let the experiment be started from Jammu and Kashmir so that a common currency is introduced in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir."
If it has to happen in South Asia why should it not happen in Jammu and Kashmir". He said that during the SAARC conferences various leaders have supported the idea of free trade zones and common currency to give boost to trade activity in the region.
Qarra said that introduction of common currency could help in the resolution of hostilities between
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig categorically stated that there was no such proposal before the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Baig however said that before the Working Group appointed by the Prime Minister to forge confidence across the Line of Control, a suggestion had been made that the State of Jammu and Kashmir including the part under the administration of Pakistan be declared a free trade zone, in which probably currencies of both the countries could become the legal tender.
Baig dispelled apprehensions that the reported proposal to have a separate currency for the State has been approved by the PDP or has the backing of the State government. He clarified that Jammu and Kashmir is a part of the Indian Union and there is no question of floating a proposal which would undermine the federal relationship of the State with the Union. |
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