PM intervenes to defuse coalition crisis in J&K
Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday intervened to diffuse the crisis between J&K’s ruling coalition partners who have taken extreme positions on vital securityrelated issues.
By Masood Hussain, TNN |
JAMMU: Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday intervened to diffuse the crisis between J&K’s ruling coalition partners who have taken extreme positions on vital securityrelated issues.
PDP, the main ally in the Azad-led Congress government, skipped Wednesday’s cabinet meeting indicating the differences could take a severe turn plunging India’s most sensitive border state into a crisis at the most crucial juncture of the peace process between India and Pakistan.
After an hour-long meeting with the the Prime Minister, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was asked to submit a detailed plan about how the party wants the gradual reduction of troops, eviction of security forces currently in control of land and public utilities. She also met Pranab Mukherji on Tuesday morning and later, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for over 45 minutes. PDP sources termed her meeting with Prime Minister as “highly positive” , unlike the Mukherji meeting.
Ms Mufti told ET that she told the Prime Minister to consider the demands on merit and insisted that these measures are a sure-fire method to strengthen the emerging public faith in state’s political and democratic institutions .
“Time-bound reduction of troops and revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would be the most appropriate and fitting response to the fast changing ground situation,” she believes. Projecting PDP’s demands as the best CBMs, she told him that it would strengthen the reconciliatory process initiated by the coalition, cease the mass alienation, enhanced people’s sense of freedom and their faith in democratic means and, above all, reinforce the political initiatives with adequate administrative measures.
Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in Srinagar earlier in the day, told reporters that he was not against the demands per se but thinks the situation was still not conducive to withdraw the security forces. Azad is scheduled to fly to Delhi to discuss the issues with the Prime Minister after PDP submits its plan.
PDP, the main ally in the Azad-led Congress government, skipped Wednesday’s cabinet meeting indicating the differences could take a severe turn plunging India’s most sensitive border state into a crisis at the most crucial juncture of the peace process between India and Pakistan.
After an hour-long meeting with the the Prime Minister, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was asked to submit a detailed plan about how the party wants the gradual reduction of troops, eviction of security forces currently in control of land and public utilities. She also met Pranab Mukherji on Tuesday morning and later, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for over 45 minutes. PDP sources termed her meeting with Prime Minister as “highly positive” , unlike the Mukherji meeting.
Ms Mufti told ET that she told the Prime Minister to consider the demands on merit and insisted that these measures are a sure-fire method to strengthen the emerging public faith in state’s political and democratic institutions .
“Time-bound reduction of troops and revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would be the most appropriate and fitting response to the fast changing ground situation,” she believes. Projecting PDP’s demands as the best CBMs, she told him that it would strengthen the reconciliatory process initiated by the coalition, cease the mass alienation, enhanced people’s sense of freedom and their faith in democratic means and, above all, reinforce the political initiatives with adequate administrative measures.
Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in Srinagar earlier in the day, told reporters that he was not against the demands per se but thinks the situation was still not conducive to withdraw the security forces. Azad is scheduled to fly to Delhi to discuss the issues with the Prime Minister after PDP submits its plan.
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