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| Sharm-el-Sheikh: PDP, BJP stand on one side; Govt’s press note too hasty | | No mention of J&K; instead of questioning, India offers to Pakistan in countering terrorism | |
ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Jammu, July 17: As the nation debates ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ Sharm-el-Sheikh summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani, in Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstream spectrum the National Conference appears to have made a completely hasty opinion even as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and the Bhartiya Janta Party are both on one side of the fence though for entirely different reasons.
Whenever leaders of India and Pakistan meet, there are two sets of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir on the issue which become part of any discussions. While one opinion that Kashmir should be made as ‘core issue’, the other set of opinion suggests that terrorism should top the discussion agenda between New Delhi and Islamabad. This also a typical of Kashmir-centric and Jammu r-centric reaction to the Indo-Pak talks, respectively.
Interestingly, Prime Ministers Singh and Gilani neither touched upon Kashmir issue nor they made the cross-border terrorism as a condition for resuming the stalled composite dialogue. In fact, they recognized terrorism as a mutual threat to both countries and vowed to counter it through joint efforts. The statement issued after the end of meeting between two leaders also laid an added emphasis on the understanding that “action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue and these should not be bracketed”. It may be mentioned here that Kashmir issue, of late, is a part of the composite dialogue agenda between India and Pakistan and at Sherm-el-Sheikh both leaders ticked the menace of cross-border terrorism off while joining talks on issues including Kashmir.
Reacting to the developments in Egypt, a spokesman for the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah appears to have made unnecessary haste in drafting a press note which goes on to say “the success of Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting is not only the victory of his (Omar’s) stand but victory of billions of people of sub-continent, who strongly believe in peace and abhor violence....He said the cordial meeting between the two Prime Ministers has become historical as both the countries have agreed to delink terrorism from Indo-Pak dialogue”.
It appears that the Chief Minister’s reaction was put in the media without having gone through the joint statement which does not show New Delhi pulling up Pakistan on terrorism. Not much is needed to be written on how incidents of terrorism, if not in J&K, elsewhere in the country have stalled the Indo-Pak peace process involving discussions on Kashmir issue.
The opposition parties, BJP and PDP, appear to have made a correct reading of the developments in Sherm-el-Sheikh, which is popularly known as the City of Peace in Egypt. Though their stands are typical of their regional program and reflect their own ideological standpoints but there is absolute clarity.
Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement represents an inadequate response to South Asia’s festering problems that have adversely affected all aspects of life in the region, especially Jammu and Kashmir.
Expressing concern at the omission of Jammu and Kashmir from the joint declaration and ambiguity about resumption of a composite dialogue he said this has caused understandable disappointment among the people of the state who looked up to the summit with considerable hope. “Pushing of the dialogue process into the cold storage not only dampens the prospects of a lasting peace but would even dent the oft repeated vision of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of a new, peaceful and prosperous South Asia”. He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir had invested too much in the peace process to see it getting derailed as a result of a skewed policy frame work pursued at the talks.
Mufti Sayeed said while it was a positive development that the two sides had agreed on measures to fight the menace of terrorism together it was not the only aspect of the Indo Pak relations that had by their very nature of hostility and acrimony brought disaster to lives of millions in the subcontinent. The efforts to redefine these relations by the leadership of two countries to usher in an era of understanding and reconciliation would fall way short of the required impetus in absence of a composite dialogue that would address all issues including Kashmir, he added. Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir could after the historic initiative taken by the people of the state through democratic and peaceful assertion of their rights emerge as a global model of reconciliation and resolution of conflicts. But, unfortunately the leadership of the two countries had ignored that initiative and instead once again sent out a signal that only terrorism could invite their attention and not peaceful means.
The former Union Minister and leader of the BJP Legislators Party, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta has expressed surprise over the de-linking of Cross Border terror from the resuming of the Composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, and observed that this was clear deviation of the stand so far taken by New Delhi and more intriguing was that even after the joint statement of the two Prime Ministers at Sharm-ul-Sheikh, the Congress high ups at the Centre are still trying to confuse the basic issue viz the terror.
Gupta said, “on one hand this was being confirmed officially that the cross border infrastructure still existed in Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir coupled with the infiltration of ultras, on the other decision has been taken to resume the Composite Dialogue to sort out various pending issue between India and Pakistan”. He reiterated that no dialogue would work unless Pakistan gives up its hostilities and aggressive attitude on so called Kashmir issue.
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