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| In post crisis steps, Omar wants dialogue with 'everyone' | | Accolades for Congress for 'support' | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Srinagar, July 14:With life returning to normal and situation showing signs of peace, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who indeed got a 'fresh lease' if life in terms of his government's survival, today advocated a dialogue between the Centre and "everybody" in the state "who is willing to talk".
Omar who all through the turbulent time during the past two weeks has been talking about political measures to calm down the anger of masses, quite apparently favouring a dialogue with the Hurriyat as well as separatists of all hues, "I think the Centre should talk to everybody who is willing to talk and should also reach out to those who are unwilling to talk." A visibly relaxed Omar said this today in an interview.
Citing the example of the Centre's dialogue with the Hizbul Mujahideen ten years ago, he said, "I think an example can be taken of the dialogue in 2000 where as a result of a ceasefire, dialogue was initiated with Hizbul Mujahideen. However, he stressed on what he said it requires a lot of ground work and some sort of ceasefire like conditions for dialogue to happen in a positive manner. "Both the measures are important for success of dialogue", the Chief Minister , said emphasizing the concerned quarters should initiate the steps.
The Chief Minister also referred to the Track II diplomacy facilitating such dialogues in the past saying, "The Centre should try "some Track II diplomacy like the efforts made in 2000 that led to a ceasefire and dialogue."
During the hour-long interview he answered a wide range of questions including his handling of the crisis, the controversial decision to call out the army and his plans to address the problems of the youth who have been in the forefront of the agitation in which 15 people have died.
Hitting out at his critics, Abdullah said "the moment one faces difficulties, vultures come out and start circulating" and "no sooner did we hit a period of difficulty couple of weeks ago that influential columnists and writers and other so-called experts on Kashmir started to write the obituary of my government".
However, Omar was all praise for the role of his major alliance partner Congress leadership which he stated took a firm stand in the 'hour of crisis'. "Not only did the leadership extend full support but also Congress party was against any change in the state's leadership. "Obviously any signal that goes out clearly does help.....an early end to that debate was useful".
Asked if he had any regrets about the way he had handled the crisis, Abdullah replied, "No, when I look at the actual crisis, well, I regret that the crisis emerged." But once the crisis started there is not much he would have handled differently.
It was easy "in our situation to be apologetic about everything" but considering the mood in the valley last week his government deserved credit for giving time to heal and for the anger to settle as well as for the Shab-e-Mehraj prayers to be held as before, he said.
Referring to the resolution passed by an all-party meeting on Monday calling for strengthening of the peace process through internal and external dialogue, Abdullah explained that the feeling was Jammu and Kashmir has "the most healthy gain" from a dialogue between India and Pakistan.
"What they want is that the governments of India and Pakistan should talk to each other and talk about the issue of Jammu and Kashmir as well with a view to finding some kind of long-term solutions to our problems……Internally there is this sense that if political dialogue is necessary with all shades of opinion, both mainstream and otherwise, and that was reflected in the resolution."
With regard to the internal dialogue, Abdullah was asked about the conditions such as the withdrawal of the army, release of political prisoners and repeal of laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) put by the moderate faction of the Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. However, he opined that any effort to make the dialogue conditional did not help. "I think it is unfair that you expect the Government of India to engage in an unconditional dialogue while setting conditions yourself."
In the post crisis period , the Chief Minister criticized the opposition PDP for boycotting the all-party meeting despite a plea by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.They have done so for short term political gain at long term cost". In a democracy the opposition can either be constructive or destructive and "unfortunately here, and I regret to say, that PDP chose to play the role other than of being constructive", he said.
Abdullah said that he was not aware of any perception that a section of the Congress party wanted him to be dumped in favour of a coalition with PDP. "I have seen no signs of it either at the Central level or at the state level. "All of us were concerned about the situation in the state. But I have received complete backing not only of the Central government but also of the constituents of this alliance government."
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