Early Times Report
Jammu, May 10: CM Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday held an over 4-hour-long all party meeting in Srinagar. The meeting was held to review the situation in the Valley in the wake of the tragic death of a young tourist from Chennai Thirumani. Thirumani was virtually stoned to death by the dreaded stone-pelters. Stone-pelters had completely smashed the left side of his face and broken his jaw, teeth and nose.
The meeting witnessed interesting things. There was complete unity among the PDP, the NC and the Congress participants with the BJP, as expected, watching the proceeding as a mute spectator. (however, on Thursday, the BJP took on the Chief Minister and said that they were not a party to the unilateral ceasefire suggestion and that they wanted a review of the decision under which stone-pelters were granted amnesty: Stand which has given an opportunity to NC and the Chief Minister's critics to question her Wednesday's unilateral ceasefire stand.) The PDP, the NC, the Congress, the CPIM and other participants in the meeting were on the same page. They all spoke in one voice that the ongoing military operations against terrorists be stopped and the Union Government should follow the Vajpayeee line and announce a unilateral ceasefire.
But what was more striking was the suggestion of the non-PDP and non-BJP participants concerning the PDP-BJP agenda of alliance. They opined that had the PDP-BJ agenda of alliance implemented, things in Kashmir would have been different. They all opined that that "if agenda of alliance between BJP and PDP is followed, then situation in J&K can be changed".
What had the NC and the Congress to do with the PDP-BJP agenda of alliance? It was an agreement between the two parties and it was for them to implement or to not implant it. But they reportedly advocated the need for the implementation of the agenda of alliance, thus strengthening the hands of the Chief Minister and cornering the BJP.
The agenda of alliance contains suggestions which, if accepted and implemented, would ultimately dismember India. It talks about talks with Pakistan and its agents in Kashmir and the Hurriyatwallas. It creates an impression that J&K is not a settled issue. It gives powers to the state government to facilitate talks between India and Pakistan, thus negating the very office of the Indian Foreign Office. It talks about demilitarization. It talks about transfer of NHPC power projects to the state government. It talks about the trifurcation of Jammu province into plains of Jammu and the non-existent Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal Valley. It also virtually makes Article 370 a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution. To be more precise, the agenda of alliance contains everything that has the potential of driving J&K out of India and sealing the fate of the minorities in the state, including Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh.
The support of the NC and the Congress to the PDP-BJP agenda of alliance needs to be viewed in this context. They all want the Union Government to play with fire and unsettled what was settled on October 26, 1947, when Maharaja Hari Singh acceded his state to India once and for all. |
