Mufti takes his self rule to UN

SRINAGAR: Despite stiff opposition by chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and National Conference (NC) to the “borrowed” self rule idea, PDP founder Mufti Sayeed is New York bound to sell the idea from a larger platform — the UN General Assembly.

Mufti is leading one of the three non-official Indian delegations and has been nominated by none other than the prime minister, party sources said.

Observers believe that choosing Mufti to lead one of the non-official delegations is an indicator that Mufti fits in into the blueprint that the sluggish peace process between India and Pakistan has created, so far. Sources said he would be talking in detail about his idea of self rule a year after Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf talked about demilitarisation and self rule in his speech to the UN general assembly.

Sources in PDP suggest the party is in process of drafting a detail blueprint about self rule that would offer, for the first time, broad contours about its political and economic aspects. The party reconstituted its political affairs committee that has been assigned this job.

Muzaffar Hussain Baig, a top constitutional expert and lawyer whom the party recently recalled from the government after the coalition entered into a shaky zone, is one of the important members of this committee. “Yes, Mufti Sahib would carry the document along”, one party source confirmed to ET adding that it must be ready within a week.

Involving Kashmir leaders in the UN general assembly and other groups has been a routine especially during the troubled periods. Though Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah would be an important member of the delegation soon after Partition, roping in a political leader from J&K as member of the delegation was inevitable during and after the armed conflicts between India and Pakistan.

Post-1971, rarely a person from J&K would get a berth in the high-profile though ritualistic delegation. However, after the militancy broke out, the tradition was resumed.

Former CM Farooq Abdullah accompanied former PM AB Vajpayee as deputy head of the delegation to UN Commission for Human Rights meeting in Vienna in 1995, paving the way for halting an Iranian resolution that would have come as a huge embarrassment to New Delhi on civil liberty front.

However, party sources suggest Mufti’s visit should be taken as part of the conflict resolution within the already stated parameters — no redrawing of borders and no division — rather than defending or reasserting India’s position, already acknowledged world over.

“On certain issues over Kashmir, there is a conflict between country’s political and security establishments and in order to offer the two sides some time to evolve a consensus there is an option to permit Kashmir leaders to offer their options and one way to look at it is self rule,” a PDP insider said. “There are more people in support of the idea in the country than those who oppose it”, one leader told ET.
Meanwhile, chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is flying to New York on Thursday to attend the yearly meeting of Indian Muslim Association, a group of NRI’s. Though he was invited in November last, he had to skip the meet to take over as the J&K chief minister. He has plans to fly to Brussels and make a speech to the EU Parliament but it was not immediately known whether he would actually keep a date with the EU lawmakers. In Srinagar, he designated Mangat Ram Shamra as acting CM and took off for Delhi. Sources in his office suggest he is likely to spend a fortnight abroad.