J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Mufti cautions Centre about Farooq
Jammu, August 25
The Peoples’ Democratic Party, headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former union Home Minister, has suggested to the Central Government, particularly Mr L.K. Advani, not to be misled by the advice and reports from the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who, the PDP said, was “sabotaging a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue”. 

Veiled Kashmiri Muslim women buy goods from a vendor in Srinagar on Saturday. Many Kashmiri Muslim women have started wearing burqas or veils to cover their faces after Lashkar-e-Jabar, a shadowy militant group, recently renewed its demand that women abide by a strict Islamic dress code or face attacks. — Reuters

Mufti cautions Centre about Farooq
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 25
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former union Home Minister, has suggested to the Central Government, particularly Mr L.K. Advani, not to be misled by the advice and reports from the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who, the PDP said, was “sabotaging a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue”. The suggestion was contained in a resolution adopted at a one-day convention of the PDP workers here today. The resolution, while expressing deep concern over the recent massacres of innocent people at Kishtwar and Jammu, blamed both the state and the Central governments for their failure to protect the lives of the people of the state.

The PDP leaders said during the past five years of the National Conference rule, the level of violence in the state had increased leading one to believe that the ruling party leadership had developed a “vested interest” in encouraging such violence. Addressing the convention, Mufti Sayeed said it was unfortunate that seven major massacres had taken place in various parts of the Jammu region during the past about two months. He said despite the carnages, neither the state nor the Central Government took measures to prevent these. He said even in the valley, the people continued to be sandwiched between the guns of the militants and the security forces.

The Mufti said taking to the gun was no solution to the problem and all matters could be resolved through negotiations. He applauded the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, for initiating the peace process. He said Mr Vajpayee’s acceptance of an invitation from Pakistan to hold another summit was laudatory. He advised Gen Pervez Musharraf to reciprocate Mr Vajpayee’s initiative. The PDP leaders also suggested to other separatist groups, especially the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, to avoid being obdurate and come forward to participate in the peace process.

Mufti Sayeed said if the BJP-led NDA government continued to put all its eggs in the National Conference basket, there would be no end to the ongoing violence in the state. The Centre should hold talks with other political leaders in the state.

The PDP leaders and workers took a pledge to safeguard the spirit of communal amity and secular traditions in the state and fight forces which were trying to weaken this spirit. The PDP also expressed concern over the continued “misrule” in the state which made people feel isolated because of the high rate of corruption and nepotism.

Mufti Sayeed and his party colleague, Mr B.K. Vaishnavi, said extension of the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act were not the answer for the increasingly grave security situation. They said there was a danger that security forces could misuse these powers as had been the case in the Kashmir valley. They said what was needed was good governance, fair allocation of funds for development works and tackling the problem of unemployment on a war-footing. The PDP leaders had a dig at the state and Central governments and said if the two had failed to meet even the power requirement of the people, one should not expect the National Conference to tackle subversive violence.