BJP slams Centre over J&K policy

NEW DELHI: As it became evident that Srinagar’s Lal Chowk will be out of bounds for the BJP on January 26, the party on Friday launched an all-out offensive on the Manmohan Singh government over its Kashmir policy. While assuring that the party was committed to a peaceful yatra, the BJP said the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) was going ahead with its programme. With chief minister Omar Abdullah declaring that the BJYM will not be allowed to hoist the national tricolour at Lal Chowk on the Republic Day, the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra is expected to be stopped at Lakhimpur, ahead of Jammu.

The BJP is planning to hold a public meeting at Jammu on January 25.

In the national Capital, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the party’s concerns about Kashmir had increased because of the UPA government’s approach towards it. What has irked the BJP further is the government’s silence on the remarks by former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri while addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs on Thursday.

Kasuri had said that India and Pakistan were near a resolution of their bilateral issues—including the Kashmir dispute—during Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s tenure. He said the main features of the draft agreement on Kashmir involved a gradual demilitarisation as the situation improved, self-governance on either side of the Line of Control (LoC), regionalism and a joint mechanism involving Kashmiris from both sides.

“This means obliterate the LoC, call back the forces and have a joint mechanism of governance. Track II can be marginally different but not diametrically opposite to track I,” Jaitley told reporters here. He said if the spirit of what he had said was even partially correct, it was a serious compromise on sovereignty.

“Is this a fact or propaganda.... The government should say something, refute it or accept it. It is contrary to the resolution passed by Parliament,” Jailtey said.

Meanwhile, the Congress accused the opposition party of playing "deliberate politics of the flag" and trying to add "fuel to the fire" in the militancy-hit state."There is no dearth of those unfurling the national tricolour in Kashmir, but the BJP is attempting to secessionist forces which are on the backfoot to gain ground by playing deliberate politics of the flag," party spokesman Mohan Prakash said.