NEW DELHI, Apr 18:Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed today met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and urged him to ensure free and fair elections in the State saying this was not done during 2008.
“While (former Prime Minister) Atal Behari Vajpayee had ensured that his commitment to hold free and fair elections in 2002 was fulfilled, the same could unfortunately not be said about the 2008 elections when manipulations in many constituencies affected the results and clouded the credibility of electoral process once again,” a PDP statement quoted him as saying after the meeting.
Sayeed said it was important that the electoral process in the State not only remained clean and unbiased but that it should look so as well.
He alleged that the “managed results” in those elections had impacted the situation adversely and ever since the present Government took office, all the immense investment in peace and development in the State made by Singh himself had almost evaporated.
He urged the Prime Minister to ensure free and fair elections, whenever these are held, as a primary requisite for taking forward the peace process as restoration of faith in democratic institutions was essential for any initiatives on internal front to succeed.
Sayeed said it was important to ensure a full-fledged and multi-tier democratic system in place in the State from the village to State level to empower the people in shaping their destinies.
“Unfortunately that was not happening in absence of the empowerment of these institutions,” he said.
The PDP leader discussed with Singh a wide range of subjects to review the situation in the State and developments in the region that could have a bearing on it.
Sayeed apprised Singh of the fallout of the hanging of Parliament convict Afzal Guru and the manner in which he was sent to gallows without letting his family have a mandatory last meeting with him.
He told the prime minister how the entire issue had “adversely impacted the people of Kashmir and added to the trust deficit between Kashmir and rest of the country that had very painstakingly been reduced to some extent after 2002”.
Impressing upon Singh the need to prevent erosion of democratic institutions in the State, Sayeed informed the Prime Minister how the summary rejection of the demand for return of Guru’s mortal remains, even while the State Assembly was still discussing it, came as a serious setback to its credibility.
Sayeed said if democratic institutions like the assembly continued to face such trivialisation, any forward movement in restoring people’s confidence in them would become impossible.
The PDP statement said the two leaders also discussed the external dimension of the problem of J&K with particular reference to the need for implementation of bilateral decisions with Pakistan on expanding the scope of travel and trade across LoC.
Sayeed said the decisions to expand the facility of LoC travel beyond divided families, increasing bus frequency and reopening of the Kargil-Skardu link needed to be speeded up.
While looking forward to the outcome of the elections in Pakistan, the two leaders shared the optimism about increased chances for revival of peace process with that country, the statement added. (PTI)
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