Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, June 12: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kashmir later this month is on schedule and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson, Sonia Ghandhi is likely to accompany him, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said here on the sidelines of a police function held at SKICC, here.
Omar said the State Government is discussing with the Prime Minister’s office the modalities of PM’s visit to the State later this month. “This information that had been spread that the PM’s visit has been cancelled is incorrect. At no point of time had the visit been cancelled. The Prime Minister’s visit stands as of now”, he added.
The Chief Minister said that his Government is working out the visit of Sonia Ghandhi along with the PM. “We are in discussion with Sonia Gandhi and possibly she will also be visiting the State,” Omar said.
Singh is scheduled to arrive in Kashmir on a two-day visit on June 25 to dedicate the 11 kilometre long Railway tunnel in South Kashmir to people. The tunnel is part of the 345-kilometre Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project of Northern Railways.
The PM is also inaugurating Mughal Road that connects Kashmir valley with Jammu province through Poonch. He is also scheduled to dedicate the Uri-II hydroelectric power project to the nation at Uri near the Line of Control (LoC) and will address a public rally there.
Earlier last week, Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President, Prof Saifudin Soz had said that the PM’s visit to Kashmir valley has been postponed.
When asked whether resumption of dialogue between the Centre and the separatist leadership in the Kashmir is on the agenda during the PM’s visit, Omar during his interaction with media said: “We are working out the details of his visit. Who will be involved and what are the issues, we are working on it.”
The Chief Minister while welcoming the statement of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s on revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) said: “It is good that the Home Minister has acknowledged our viewpoint.”
Omar said the Parliament was misled to some extent on the issue of AFSPA as it was told that Jammu and Kashmir Government had not submitted any proposal for revocation of the Act. “A question was asked in the Parliament that has the Government of Jammu and Kashmir submitted any proposal for revocation of AFSPA. The Government had said no which was totally wrong,” he said.
He hoped that the talks with the Centre on revocation of AFSPA from parts of the State would be fruitful. “It is an on-going process. Talks are going on with Government of India on the issue. The talks are going on and I am hopeful that we will take this to logical conclusion,” he said.
When asked about Army’s opposition to the AFSPA, Omar said it was nothing new. “That is Government of India’s problem to get it resolved… We are hopeful that we will make a start soon.”
Chief Minister expressed concern over the educated youth joining the militancy in Kashmir. “We have found that the militants who were killed recently in Kashmir valley were well educated from Islamic University of Science and Technology and Kashmir University and least qualified militant was 12th standard. This is a matter of concern.”
Omar said that the local recruitment of militants is nothing new and in the past there were more local militants. He, however, said that it needs to be analysed why the educated youth are joining militancy.
In response to a question on bickering in NDA, the Chief Minister said he has nothing to do with the internal bickering in NDA. “We have no relation with BJP. This is the internal matter of JD (U) and BJP. We have got nothing to do with it,” he said.
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