New Delhi, March 19
Worried about the international implications of PDP’s decision to pull out of the Congress-led coalition government in the sensitive state of Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to urge Mufti Mohammad Sayeed not to take any drastic step till after the next month’s SAARC summit.
While the Prime Minister is likely to meet Sayeed tomorrow, he had a 30-minute meeting with J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today at his Parliament House office as he stepped up efforts to sort out the differences between the Congress and the PDP.
The PDP has stayed away from three consecutive Cabinet meetings and has threatened to walk out of the coalition to press for troop reduction in the state.
Although Dr Singh has written a three-page letter to Sayeed explaining why it is not possible to meet this demand, it will be his endeavour to persuade the PDP not to pull out of the government. However, if the PDP is determined to go ahead with its threat, the Prime Minister’s effort will be to urge him put off this decision till after the SAARC
summit being held in Delhi on April 3 and 4.
India and Pakistan will be holding bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit and New Delhi obviously does not want any upheavels in J&K, which would put them on the backfoot while negotiating with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.“ What kind of a message will we sending out when our own alliance partner is echoing Pakistan’s demand for troop reduction,” remarked a senior UPA minister, adding emphatically that the Centre could not afford to compromise on the issue of security.
Reiterating the PM’s stand ruling troop reduction, chief minister Azad today said the government could not afford to be complacent as infiltration this winter has actually gone up while the militant infrastructure in Pakistan is still intact and battles between security forces and militants are routine. “
Relations between the alliance partners in the state have reached a flashpoint following a perception in the PDP that it is gradually losing support base to the Hurriyat and has been groping for an issue which will strike a responsive chord with the people in the Valley. However, serious differences within its own ranks have prevented the PDP from taking the final step on breaking off the alliance with the
Congress. The PDP has now scheduled a crucial meeting of political affairs committee on March 25 to take a decision on continuation in the 54-month-old coalition.
