Kashmir situation needs tangible political steps: PDP legislator

NEW DELHI - Poor handling of the Kashmir unrest has taken it to a crisis situation where it has gone beyond the capacity of the Omar Abdullah administration and nothing short of a “tangible political approach” by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can settle it, an opposition PDP lawmaker said Sunday.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Nizammudin Bhat justified his party’s decision not to attend Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s all-party meeting Monday saying the Kashmir situation has “blown to a level where nothing short of a tangible political approach will settle the crisis”.

“The crisis is of a greater dimension and cannot be resolved at the level of the chief minister, particularly one who stands to be discredited in the eyes of the people and has lost all authority and control despite strong backing by the central government,” Bhat said.

He said the PDP wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to initiate political steps now if he wants to “soothe the anger of the people, particularly the younger generation who have lost the sense of belonging and are suffering because of insecurities multiplied by the excessive use of force”.

Terming the uprising “a huge setback” for the political gains the two prime ministers - Manmohan Singh and his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee - had made, the politician said the protests “carry a message for the powers that be that the problem demands a solution”.

“It is something you can no longer just manage. It has to be resolved now,” he said.

“We want the PM to take initiatives and create a hope, a hope for lasting peace.”

Asked what could be done immediately to resolve the current crisis triggered by a chain of violence following 14 civilian killings in the valley, the lawmaker said the army should be withdrawn from Srinagar and other major towns, political prisoners released and the crackdown on local people put to end.

He said the turmoil and the poor handling of the situation by the Abdullah government has also weakened India’s position in the upcoming talks with Pakistan.

“It was a win-win situation for New Delhi as Pakistan, given its internal trouble, was not in a position to bargain and put India under pressure. But the turmoil in Kashmir and the way Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has handled it has changed it all,” Bhat said.

He cited Pakistan-administered Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider’s advice to Islamabad asking it not to link ongoing negotiations with India to the Kashmir issue because “this was not the right time for Pakistan to press for a Kashmir settlement”.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)