news details |
|
|
| Atal was keen to move forward on Kashmir, says Mirwaiz | | "Kashmir Movement Is Alive" | | Rustam
jammu, July 28: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads a ragtag amalgam, called All-Party Hurriyat Conference - Mirwaiz (APHC-M), has commended the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA Government. Of course, reluctantly. In an interview given exclusively to a Kashmir-based English language daily, which appeared in its today's edition, Mirwaiz did commend Vajpayee and said that the former Prime Minister was quite keen to move forward on Kashmir. "It is ironical for us to say that NDA Government led by Vajpayee was keener to move forward on Kashmir. I think 2008, 2009 and 2010 had given an opportunity to the leadership of India to think, to discuss and deliberate but they chose to look on other side. The problem with New Delhi is that they only come to terms when there is a fire fighting situation. The moment they feel things are manageable and under control they tend to forget the past. This approach has to change. It is unfortunate that Army and paramilitary forces are playing a much bigger political role today," he told his interviewer. The specific question of the interviewer was: "If you compare UPA regime with the NDA Government, which Government was more keen on resolving K-issue?"
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is not the only self-styled freedom fighter who has praised Vajpayee and the Government that he led for almost six years. JKLF chairman and murderer Yasin Malik has been praising the Vajpayee line for years now. The PDP leadership has not only been commending Vajpayee and his Kashmir and Pakistan policy, but has on several occasions publicly said in Srinagar and Jammu that it saw a "statesman" in Vajpayee. National Conference leaders like Mustafa Kamaal, too, have hailed Vajpayee a number of times, notwithstanding the fact that his Government threw into the dustbin the NC-prepared State Autonomy Committee report in 2000. The Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly had adopted a resolution endorsing the highly divisive autonomy committee report. The report had recommended for the State greater autonomy, bordering on virtual sovereignty.
The fact of the matter is that several Kashmiri leaders, "mainstream" and self-styled freedom fighters, who do not see eye to eye with each other or are after each other's head, hold Vajpayee in high esteem and express the view that had the Indian electorate not rejected the BJP in the 2004 general elections, the story of Jammu & Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations today would have been quite different. Look at the Kashmir-based dailies, published particularly after June 23, 2012, and see for yourself the attitude of Kashmiri leaders towards Vajpayee and his Government. On June 23, BJP leader Arun Jaitley had taken a line altogether different from that of Vajpayee and not only advocated the need to abrogate Article 370 and integrate the State fully with India, but also dismissed Article 370 as a "conspiracy against the people of Jammu & Kashmir". He had also attacked Nehru and his Congress party.
Now the question to be asked is: Why do Kashmiri leaders of all hues, barring perhaps Tehrik-e-Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani, hold Vajpayee in high esteem? Why because it was Vajpayee who in 2003 shocked the Indian nation and extended his hand of friendship to Pakistan, which had only in 1999 and 2001 invaded India in order to destroy her and capture Kashmir. Vajpayee had also ridiculed those in Jammu, including the then State BJP president, who had been highlighting the neglect and underdevelopment of Jammu Pradesh and accusing the State Government of perpetrating injustices on their Pradesh.
In 1999, Pakistan sent intruders in the Kargil sector and its aim was to annex Kashmir. The Indian Army expelled the intruders and the nation lost as many as 527 valiant soldiers. In 2001, Pakistani-aided, abetted and indoctrinated terrorists launched a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament itself. Had not our security men liquidated the terrorists, the story of India would have been different today. More than half a dozen of our security personnel also lost their lives. They were so committed to liquidating terrorists and protecting the Parliament and the Indian political class.
It is now an established fact that Vajpayee had in collaboration with Pakistan worked out a formula calculated to "end the conflict" in the region and forge a "lasting peace" in Kashmir. According to the formula, borders were to be rendered irrelevant or porous, Jammu & Kashmir was to be demilitarized, Kashmir and its adjoining areas (read Muslim-majority areas of Jammu Pradesh and Ladakh) were to be granted maximum possible autonomy and Jammu Pradesh was to be divided along the Chenab River on purely communal lines. Earlier in 1998, Vajpayee had reassured the Kashmiri Muslims that Article 370 shall remain a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution. Vajpayee could not implement this formula because the circumstances in Pakistan were such. The man with whom Vajpayee was to strike a deal at the cost of India was then in serious trouble with the black-coated community of lawyers, certain political parties and sections of "civil society" up in arms against President General Pervez Musharraf.
The Kashmiri leaders' positive attitude towards Vajpayee needs to be viewed in this context. They want New Delhi to follow Vajpayee line. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
