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| Digging Grave Congress also needs to support the NC's demand for withdrawal of AFSPA | | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 24: "The withdrawal of the AFSPA is need of the hour…The statements by the Army chief (General VK Singh) are unnecessary rather than apt. Friendship between New Delhi and Islamabad is imperative for peace in entire south Asia and state and until Kashmir issue is not resolved in accordance with the wishes and aspiration of the people, the friendly ties between neighbours is a distant dream. Taking people of Kashmir into confidence. They are the real owners of the land." Who said all this? Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's uncle and former Cabinet Minister Mustafa Kamal said so. He said so while talking to the two-member Canadian delegation on Tuesday.
Now that the Congress has shown its generosity and endorsed the move of its alliance partner NC designed to facilitate the return of the trained militants and dreaded terrorists to the already militant-infested Kashmir Valley from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, it is also time for the Congress to endorse the demand of the NC seeking withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The support of the Congress to the demand for the revocation of the AFSPA has become absolutely imperative. After all, it is the application of this draconian anti-terror law that has been, according to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, responsible for the prevailing unrest in Kashmir, as also for the rise of the stone-throwers in the Valley.
Omar Abdullah does make a point when he says so. After all, he is a man on the spot. He is the highest executive authority in the state and he knows where the shoe is pinching. The Congress party is an alliance partner of the NC and it is its moral and political obligation to help Omar Abdullah and others of his ilk regain the ground they have lost in Kashmir because of their failure to make New Delhi withdraw from Kashmir not just the Army but also the draconian legislations like the AFSPA; so that they are able to achieve what his grandfather and separatists in Kashmir have failed to achieve. People know what they wanted to achieve and, hence, there is no need to remind them.
The Congress cannot afford to violate the cardinal principles of coalition dharma, which requires it to extend all possible support to its alliance partner. Nor can it afford to offend Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his uncle and former minister Mustafa Kamal, who have been trying their level best to help out India in the Kashmir Valley by seeking to pursue policies calculated to end alienation in the Valley and befriend Islamabad and Kashmiri militants who do not appreciate the presence of the Army in their land and dismiss the AFSPA a law that only violates the human rights of freedom fighters.
And, there is no reason why the Congress should not help the Great Omar Abdullah who continues to cling on to the Chief Minister's post even after questioning the very status of J&K. If the Congress did not question Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's October 6 accession/merger assembly statement and allowed him to go ahead with his return and rehabilitation policy without expressing any reservation, why should it not rally around him and his uncle and ask the Chief Minister to convene an emergency meeting of the Cabinet so that a decision is taken to the effect that the application of the AFSPA has only offended the freedom fighters in Kashmir and caused alienation and it would be an act of statesmanship if the draconian law is withdrawn from Kashmir and the troops directed to pack up and vacate the Kashmir Valley.
The Congress can help out Omar Abdullah and his NC. It has the necessary ability and capacity. If it could endorse the Chief Minister's views on the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants, terrorists and separatists, why can't it endorse his views and the views of his uncle on the Indian Army and the AFSPA? If it could afford to share power with Omar Abdullah despite his accession/merger statement, why can't it take cudgels with the Indian Army and ask the Congress-led UPA-Government and the Congress high command to go by what the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his uncle say about the Indian Army and the AFSPA? The state Congress must come forward and prove that it really believes in the coalition dharma. It can prove its commitment to the cardinal principles of coalition dharma by endorsing what Omar Abdullah has been saying since months and what Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday and forcing the Chief Minister to adopt convene meeting of his Cabinet to take decision on the issue. The Congress must accept that Kashmir belongs to the followers of a particular religion and it is its moral duty to endorse what the Kashmiri leaders opine.
Something is fundamentally wrong with the state Congress leadership, especially its ministers who endorse the militant-friendly polices and decisions which have the potential of endangering the national security. There is no doubt that the Congress would pay a very heavy price in the days to come. By endorsing the militant-friendly decision, the Congress leadership and its ministers have only hastened the process of their party's decimation in this sensitive part of the country. The Congress leadership must sit up and revise its policy towards NC. The best thing for it do would be to immediately withdraw its support to the Omar Abdullah-led Government. In fact, this is the only option left for the party to assuage the hurt feeling of its constituency.
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