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Wednesday,
June 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Stage set
for Omar to take over as NC chief Shabir
seeks French mediation on J&K Dukhtaran-e-Milat
chief absconding
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Stage set for Omar to take over as NC chief Srinagar, June 11 Sources close to the National Conference here feel that the coronation of the Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Omar Abdullah, at this juncture was not necessitated when the party President and Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah was himself able to handle the affairs of the party and the administration. This decision, according to party sources, has been taken in view of the alleged apathetic attitude of the Centre towards the NC government in Jammu and Kashmir. “We want to make it clear to the Central leadership that the National Conference has a popular base in all the three regions of the state,” said a senior party leader. The National Conference, which came to power with a thumping majority in 1996, after a gap of seven years of Governor’s rule due to militancy, had the restoration of autonomy as the main plank of its election manifesto. The autonomy resolution passed by the state Assembly four years later in 2000, was rejected by the BJP-led NDA government of which National Conference is also a constituent. The state government is also averse to the grant of funds to the cash starved state faced with the demand of free flow of funds for the reconstruction of damaged structures during militancy. Its pledges to restore peace and normalcy and provide jobs to unemployed educated youth have also faced rough weather, though some advancement has been made in case of employment. The timing of coronation is also calculated as preparations are to be made for the next Assembly elections scheduled to be held by October this year. The Chief Minister and National Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, had here recently stated that he would “continue to work and not keep hopes” of acquiring a different status at the national level. While he has been holding both positions of party President and Chief Minister in the state after his father’s (Sheikh Abdullah) demise in 1982, it is yet to be seen whether the new incumbent follows his father’s footsteps or not. The observers here believe that the new incumbent, twice elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar, is faced with hard tasks ahead, primarily because of the prevailing situation and growing tension in the Indo-Pak relations on Kashmir. “The National Conference had a popular base when Farooq Abdullah took over in 1981,” said a political observer. The election of the new party President this time would be different, as it would be confined to the delegates coming from all three regions of the state with security concerns for all of them. |
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Shabir seeks French mediation on J&K Srinagar, June 11 He, however, ruled out the possibility of the DFP’s participation in the state Assembly elections. ‘’It will make things more complicated rather than restoring peace in the strife-torn state,’’ he said. This was conveyed to French Deputy Ambassador in New Delhi Vincient Guerend by Mr Shah when the diplomat called on him at his Rawalpora residence today. The separatist leader said the DFP believed that the Kashmir issue could be resolved peacefully by sitting across the table. ‘’We will do everything possible to help reach any settlement.’’ He, however, told the French diplomat that the elections were no answer to the issue. He said bilateralism had failed to yield any result and time had come when all parties concerned — India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir — should sit across the table and hammer out a permanent solution. ‘’We can well understand the domestic compulsions of India and Pakistan,’’ he said. The DFP chief appealed to both countries to start a meaningful dialogue taking into consideration each other’s compulsions.
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Dukhtaran-e-Milat
chief absconding Srinagar, June 11 “She has not been arrested as yet... but we will get her soon,” IG K. Rajindra Kumar told UNI here. He said the Special Operation Group of the Jammu and Kashmir police and Income Tax officials had so far raided a number of Asiya’s possible hideouts across the valley, but she had yet not been tracked. Mr Kumar said Asiya was wanted under POTA for receiving money from the ISI through UK-based Kashmiri expatriate Ayub Thakur and his local conduit Imtiyaz Bazaz. The money was meant for the Jamait-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit.
UNI |
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