Jammu, December 27
Talks between the Government of India and the elected representatives in Jammu and Kashmir for restoring normalcy in the state will start soon. Those who did not participate in the recent Assembly elections and those not elected will also be involved in the talks but at a later stage.
This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani at a news conference here today after presiding over 90-minute meeting of the Unified Headquarters. The meeting was attended by Defence Minister, George Fernandes, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Corps Commanders, senior officers of the police, the paramilitary forces and the intelligence agencies.
Mr Advani said that the process of holding talks with the elected representatives and others would be initiated soon as per Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s commitment made on August 15.
He made it clear that talks were not a key to peace. He said “peace depends on the intentions and attitude of Pakistan.” He added the security forces were doing their duties and peace “cannot depend on the shoulders of the state or the Central Governments.”
The Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time, asserted “It is the country’s resolve to secure peace. We extracted peace in earlier wars and will extract peace in the ongoing proxy war.” He, however, did not divulge the policy. The government would follow for extracting peace from Pakistan.
He said that people in the state had voted in the recent Assembly election with three objectives in mind. He said: “They voted for peace, good governance and for securing justice in socio-economic spheres.”
Mr Advani, who was flanked by Defence Minister George Fernandes, Governor G.C. Saxena, and Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed, said that as far as the objectives of good governance and justice
in socio-economic spheres were concerned it was the responsibility of the state government and the Centre was ready to provide assistance.
Regarding the first objective of securing, peace, he said it depended on the “intentions and the attitude of our neighbour” despite the fact that the security forces were doing their job of containing militancy.
He said during the meeting of the Unified Headquarters the overall security scenario was reviewed. He said that after the third week of November militancy-related incidents had increased.
Mr Advani referred to the killing of women and children and the attack on Raghunath temple and said “these incidents indicated that militants preferred demonstrative actions.”
He said, he was told, during the briefing, that infiltration from across the border continued, training, camps, which had been either closed or shifted under international pressure, had reopened across the border. Even international pressure “can have limits”, he added.
Mr Advani made it clear that the Assembly poll “cannot usher in peace” because peace rested on Pakistan’s intentions.
Asked whether the government would accept the Hurriyat Conference leaders’ condition that they would participate in talks if permission was given to the Hurriyat team to visit Pakistan the Deputy Prime Minister said “I need not comment on it”.
Regarding the resumption of Indo-Pakistan dialogue he said India made sincere attempts in this direction when Prime Minister Vajpayee initiated the dialogue process with Pakistan. There was no positive response and “we have realised that dialogue cannot resolve the conflict.”
He said that more than 60 per cent infiltrators were foreign mercenaries. And for dealing with the situation there was need for constant interaction between the state authorities and the security forces and between the state and the Union Government.
Mr Fernandes did not attend the airport expansion function and instead spend time with senior Army functionaries on the airport to discuss the border situation.
Mr Advani and Mr Fernandes left for Delhi in the afternoon.
