India News -Kashmir

All-party meet on Kashmir tomorrow

Express news servicePosted: Tue Sep 14 2010, 04:28 hrsUpdated: Tue Sep 14 2010, 05:38 hrsNew Delhi: 

Buying more time to explore its options in Kashmir, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) tonight ratcheted up the pressure on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, underlining the need to address issues of “trust deficit and governance deficit” in the state.

Omar, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram today, was also said to have got a clear message from the Centre to “deliver and reach out” to the people, engaging them in a dialogue. In Srinagar, sources said, Omar expressed his “deep disappointment with the Centre’s attitude”. He has called a meeting of the National Conference tomorrow.

The official statement is being seen as an unequivocal snub to Omar. This came the day the Jammu & Kashmir DGP blamed the hardline Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani for instigating violence — barely a month after Abdullah had sent one of his close aides to talk to Geelani in jail.
The UPA government has called an all-party meeting on Wednesday and is likely to firm up its strategy thereafter. But pressure is mounting on the Chief Minister with the Centre exploring “all options on the table” including the possibility of a change of guard in the state, and even Governor’s Rule.

“But before taking any decision, we have to first study our fallback options,” a senior government functionary told The Indian Express. While replacing Omar by another NC leader was said to be one of the options being discussed, the Centre was said to be wary of taking any drastic decision, given the history of Kashmir marked by political upheavals as a result of Central diktats.

The Congress leadership, in the meantime, appears to have begun distancing itself from Omar whose friendship with Rahul Gandhi was said to be instrumental in the Congress’s decision to give him six years of uninterrupted tenure as Chief Minister.

“Our coalition is with the National Conference. It is up to the NC to select the Chief Minister. They have selected Omar Abdullah and so we are with him,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said. The Congress also sought to distance itself from Omar’s decision to fly to Delhi on Eid. “J&K Chief Minister is competent to answer why he was in Delhi on Eid,” said Tewari.

“Delhi has better understanding of the situation in Kashmir now. It is very critical. I have done my talking with the Central leadership,” J&K Congress chief Saifuddin Soz told The Indian Express. In what exemplified the deteriorating situation in the Valley, Soz had to be flown by a helicopter from Awantipore air base to his home 30 km away in Srinagar last week.

Sources claimed that Omar had offered to step down as Chief Minister last fortnight when stone-pelting incidents had begun gathering momentum. But his father and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah prevailed upon Omar not to give up at this juncture.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives in different incidents in the Valley today, the CCS, in a statement, said it was deeply distressed by the turn of events that took place “following certain rumours”. The UPA government, it said, had always held the belief that dialogue and discussion was the only way forward to find an honourable and lasting solution.

(Indianexpress)