Kishtwar communal clashes rocks Parliament

NEW DELHI: Jammu & Kashmir government’s handing of the communal clashes in Kishtwar rocked Parliament on Monday, a day after the state government stopped BJP leader Arun Jaitley from proceeding to the town, even as the minister of state for home Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

While BJP said the state was returning to a 1990-like situation, when Kashmiri Hindus had to flee their homeland in the wake of terrorism, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram defended Jaitley’s detention at Jammu airport, arguing that the situation was not right for the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha to visit the area. Abdullah’s Jammu & Kashmir National Conference party is a member of the Congressled coalition at the Centre.

“Only once the situation gets normal will leaders be allowed to visit the area,” Chidambaram told the House after a heated debate on the issue. Jaitley, however, said earlier that his detention was an issue of secondary importance.

“J&K is not the personal property of one family. They don’t have the right to bar anyone from the state and indefinitely at that. What if the BJP-led states imposed Section 144 and stopped all AICC members from entering them? What is this, a banana republic?” Chidambaram said: “Section 144 is status neutral , gender and caste neutral; the decision lies with the district administration.”

BSP chief Mayawati, whose party lends outside support to UPA, said the state government had failed in handling the violence in Kishtwar and demanded that if there was no proper probe the state government should be dismissed. The resignation of Kichloo, who represents Kishtwar in the state assembly, came ahead of an all-party meeting in Jammu and a formal announcement that a judicial commission would also look into the riots.

Who Will Speak First?

In the Rajya Sabha, deputy Chairman PJ Kurien let Opposition Leader Arun Jaitley speak on Kishtwar, though minister P Chidambaram wanted to make a statement on the issue first. “This is a completely new practice. I must record my respectful protest ,” said PC. Kurien replied : “I allowed LoP. I had no intimation from govt... I stand by it.”