The BJP was seriously worried about the popular perception that military was out to kill the average Kashmiri-though not a single person has been killed by Army’s bullets-and wanted the Government to spread the message that the armed forces also had suffered heavy casualties.
THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suggested to the Government that it should address the alienation of common Kashmiris before engaging the separatists.
"The common people are certainly alienated while the separatists are stoking the feeling of disenchantment for legitimising their azadi demand. The Government needs to create a distinction between these two. It must revisit its Kashmir policy, which has made the issue more complex in the last few decades," Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, who was part of the all-party delegation to Kashmir last week said. He was speaking at the interaction programme Root of Separatism in Jammu & Kashmir; Separate State Constitution organised by Jammu & Kashmir People’s Forum (Delhi). Others who spoke on the occasion include Lt. Gen. (Retd.) SK Sinha (Ex-Governor, J&K), Prof KL Bhatia (Retd. HoD Law, Jammu University) and Shri Narender Sehgal, Senior Journalist. Shri Vijay Kranti, Convener J&K Study & Research Centre (K&KPF) moderated.
Jaitley recalled an interaction with students of a dental college in Srinagar. He said academic activity in the college, which was in a pitiable condition for want of teachers, had been severely affected and no teacher from outside the State was ready to take up an assignment at the institute for obvious reasons.
The BJP was also firm on its demand for non-dilution of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and wanted the Government to realise that the separatists had refused to allow normality to return to the Valley. "In the last few years, they got marginalised. Now when the Valley has plunged into a crisis-like situation, a general impression is being created that the entire population of Kashmir is with separatists. This is not actually the case," Jaitley added.
The BJP argued that any generalisation of the problem - that separatists and common Kashmiris were in the same boat - would help achieve no purpose. It advised the Government against looking at the Kashmir problem through the "narrow prism of religion". The party said it wanted the spectrum to be widened so that it incorporated the concerns of the State’s nationalist elements, including Kashmiri Hindus, and did not ignore the sentiments of Jammu and Ladakh.
The party was seriously worried about the popular perception that military was out to kill the average Kashmiri-though not a single person has been killed by Army’s bullets-and wanted the Government to spread the message that the armed forces also had suffered heavy casualties. At least 2,500 security personnel are recuperating in various hospitals of Srinagar after being hit by stone throwers who, according to the BJP, were not necessarily acting at the behest of the neighbouring country.
The main Opposition party pointed out to the Government that Article 370 already gave special status to the State and that it would not be a wise move to dole out any more concessions at this point in time. Jaitley argued that New Delhi had little powers over Kashmir, except in matters relating to military, telecommunications, currency, external affairs and some others, and asked the Government if it was planning to do away with any of these too.
(FOC)
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