Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Aug 24: Former Chief Minister and working president of National Conference (NC), Omar Abdullah, today said that the “confrontational attitude” adopted by the Government and use of force to control the unrest in Kashmir is no solution.
Speaking to reporters at his Gupkar residence here after meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at Nehru Guest House, Omar said: “The situation is getting worse and this is what we told the Home Minister that this confrontational attitude being adopted, the way we are worsening the situation by our statements.”
The NC leader said on one hand there is continued curfew for the last 50 days and the whole Valley is shut, government offices, schools are closed and trade is also shut, on the other hand the Chief Minister is saying that this is being done by just five per cent people.
“If five per cent of people have wounded the State as well as the Central Government, then these five per cent are more powerful than the rest said. Then only these five per cent should control the situation,” the former Chief Minister. “Rather than sprinkling water on the fire, we are adding more fuel to the fire by such statements”, he added.
“If we say that it is only five per cent, then people say fine we will show you this five percent and then they organize the protests in much larger numbers. This confrontationist attitude, the use of force to control the situation is not the solution and this is what we told the Prime Minister and the Home Minister,” Omar said.
Asked what he conveyed to the Home Minister, the NC working president said they reiterated their old stand and tried to aware Singh about the ground situation. “We didn’t talk anything new. What new shall we talk? Yesterday we had talks with Prime Minister and today with Home Minister. It is not as if we have had said something new in these two days. We have been continuously talking on those lines”, he said.
“We have not tried to make anyone guilty or accused. We tried to aware Home Minister about the ground situation with this hope that our efforts will result in positive outcomes for this State and particularly its people,” he said. Omar said if State Government fails to convince traders and trade unions to hold talks with Home Minister then another chance of changing situation will be missed.
Omar said that aim of his and his party’s meetings with President, Prime Minister and Home Minister is to end the cycle of violence and starting a dialogue process. He said: “The situation is bad, it has been bad since the last (about) 50 days. Nearly 70 people have been killed, thousands injured, thousands of security forces have also received injuries, so in this kind of situation, our endeavour has been to control the situation someway and stop the cycle of bad news”.
“It was with this aim that we went to Delhi. We called on the President, the Prime Minister and talked to Opposition leaders to start a process of dialogue to solve this issue permanently. This was the aim of our meetings before and this was the aim of our meeting today.”
When asked about his response to the fact that principle trade bodies have refused to meet Home Minister, Omar said: “Then State Government needs to be answerable after all it is State Government which has role in these arrangements (of facilitating talks of trade and employee delegations with Centre)… These people don’t come themselves, particularly in these situations. So, if traders, chambers are not ready to meet today then Government has not done any homework. And, if same situation persists, then with disappointment I say that we will miss another chance.”
In reply to a question, Omar said he will not speak on behalf of the Home Minister with regard to latter’s response to the meeting with NC delegation “because he will himself talk on this on what he wants to do”. “We too are hopeful and want to see how he views the situation on his second visit to the Valley in one month. We want to see how much forward he is ready to move. What he said on Twitter before leaving Delhi about those people who believe in Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and Jamooriyat, he is ready to talk to them”.
“We want to see how far he is ready to go regarding the statement of the PM about a lasting solution. We want to know about this. We are in opposition and the command is not in our hands. At the most we can take the message of the people to the rulers but it is they who have to act and how far is the PM and the Home Minister ready to act, we want to know that,” said the former Chief Minister.
Omar when asked about the message that has gone with Home Minister’s current visit said: “We will have to wait to see how far the message, which should have gone (to the people), has gone to them, the Home Minister is here till tomorrow and what preparations has the State Government done for his visit and what steps has it taken to make those people ready to talk to the Home Minister who did not talk to him the last time.”
The former Chief Minister ruled out any possibility of separatists’ meeting Home Minister and said it is not possible in just a month’s time. “I am not hinting towards separatists because I am not a fool to think that these separatists will somehow suddenly reach Nehru Guest House (where Home Minister is staying) in just a month’s time. There are certain groups between the separatists and the politicians who have talked to the Government of and on like traders federations, employees unions or other groupings, we will have to wait till tomorrow to see how much has the State Government been able to get them ready for talks,” said Omar.
Asked if is optimistic about the outcome of Home Minister’s visit to Kashmir, Omar said: “Wish, those groups who as you said have disagreed to meet come and talk, and then we could have hoped for (change). But if there is no breakthrough till tomorrow then I don’t think (anything would change)… If not this time then next time; it would be a long process.
Omar said that “lasting solution” about which Prime Minister talked earlier cannot be achieved in one meeting and neither in one visit of Home Minister. “We will achieve something only if dialogue process continues,” he said, adding that “today we want solution of this issue internally”. The former Chief Minister ruled any possibility of trilateral dialogue between people of Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan and said “that will not happen”.
However, Omar said, that for one time settlement of Jammu and Kashmir issue, the talks with Pakistan are imperative at one point. “We also want dialogue process with Pakistan, talks on issues and Jammu and Kashmir should also be taken up and discussed. For this, both countries are responsible and they will have to create an environment in which dialogue is possible. But today there is no such environment,” he said.
“Today, the statements which are coming from Islamabad and Delhi, doesn’t reflect there is environment of talks. But let’s hope… we have hopes that internally there will be dialogue process and today or tomorrow there will be resumption of talks with Pakistan,” Omar said.
Reacting to the deployment of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on the streets of Srinagar after 12 years, Omar said “it is a serious development” and slammed State Government for the move. “Bringing back BSF is here is a serious development. The BSF has been deployed after 12 years on our roads. Those who blame me for 2010 and tell me that I failed completely in 2010 should answer (to this) that I didn’t felt need for deploying BSF here,” he said.
Omar while expressing apprehensions about casualties said there is no crowd control method available with BSF. “They don’t have such equipment, training. God forbid, if some personnel of BSF get trapped in crowd, I don’t want to even think about its dangerous consequences,” he said and added that the answer behind deploying BSF on Srinagar streets lies with Government. “Neither were we consulted in this regard nor were we taken into confidence. We came to know about it only when you (media) highlighted this. Otherwise we had no information about this,” he said.
The NC working president said that “our effort, as I said earlier, is that situation should change but so far it has not changed.” “Fifty days have passed, curfew, bandh, use of pellet guns and other things continue. We want to get respite from these things as soon as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ghulam Ahmad Mir while pitching for political solution said “it seems Union Minister Rajnath Singh had nothing to offer”.
Mir, who along Congress leaders and legislators, met Singh here at Nehru Guest House, said,” We once again wanted to know from him that with what Confidence Building Measure (CBM) you come today after previous deliberation in Delhi.”
The PCC president said: “I will have to say this with disappointment that I felt that neither he has remembered old talk nor he had made any preparation and he has anything to offer. Today he wanted to talk about today’s situation. Yes, he has appealed all of us to use our influence but we have said it from day one that Congress party doesn’t need anyone’s direction or appeal. Congress party is a responsible and country’s largest and old party. So, whatever role is there for us to become voice of people, we are playing that without any end.”
The Congress leader said that he felt that “there is lack of cooperation between State and Centre”. “And, the statements which are coming from Chief Minister, I don’t think they are intended at minimizing this unrest. But, it seems that instead of healing the wounds (of people) these statements are aimed at rubbing salt at them,” he said.
Mir said that the Congress will keep demanding ban on pellet guns in future as well and (essential) supplies should be restored. “People are ours; during day there is strike and at night there is curfew. And, when situation is yet to normalize, attempts of making political score are being made. And, arrest spree during night is being increased and uncertainty is being created among people. We have demanded and submitted memorandum as well that there is a need for finding solution politically and we told Home Minister to initiate steps,” he said while speaking to reporters here.
He said that the Congress party will extend support in finding peaceful solution and ‘we won’t stay behind’. “Let’s see what he (Home Minister) has to say after concluding his visit,” the PCC chief said.
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