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| | Political leadership in Delhi does not want to overrule army: Omar | | Army's concerns on AFSPA misplaced | | SRINAGAR, Sep 7: Stating that Army's concerns on AFSPA are misplaced, chief minister, Omar Abdullah, has said that the political leadership in Delhi does not want to overrule the army on the issue.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Omar admitted that his efforts to get AFSPA revoked have seemingly not reached anywhere. “Yes, it (AFSPA revocation) is still a work in progress. It is one of my disappointments that we were not able to begin the process. I never suggested that AFSPA will be removed from Jammu and Kashmir in one shot. My logic is: look, there are certain areas in the state today where the army is not conducting anti-insurgency operations. There, you can safely hand over the charge to the state police and the CRPF. But we hit a roadblock.”
About the roadblock chief minister said, “The political leadership in Delhi does not want to overrule the army. I believe the army’s concerns are misplaced. The senior brass of the army is being overly conservative. I need to convince them and I am working on that.”
He, however, stated that he is hopeful that the process would start during the term of this government. “Talks on the issue are more productive than they were in the past,” Omar said.
Asked whether it bothers him that he is unable to have his way despite law and order being a state subject, chief minister said that AFSPA was brought in as an enabling provision to deal with insurgency and not law and order. “The revocation of this Act should be seen in relationship with the successes on the anti-militancy front. Law and order is a state subject but on combating militancy, the responsibility is shared between the state and the Centre,” Omar said.
The Chief minister viewed that development cannot resolve Kashmir issue. “The root of Kashmir’s troubles lies in its politics, not economics. My state has one of the lowest poverty levels in the country. Development will help in discouraging youth from taking up the gun but will not lead to a lasting solution. That is possible only through a two track dialogue: one with Pakistan, and the second between the state and New Delhi,” he said.
Omar said the internal dialogue is not happening. “I continue to be hopeful that the report submitted by the Centre’s interlocutors can form the basis of some sort of sustained dialogue process,” he added.
To a question that the interlocutors’ report has not recommended the autonomy, being demanded by his party, National Conference, chief minister said there are recommendations in the report that his party and he vehemently disagree with and will never accept. “But still it is an important document that can pave the way for at least dialogue if not a settlement in one shot. It does have some recommendations on which a consensus can be arrived at to break the impasse on Kashmir,” he said.
According to him, the regional councils that the report has recommended goes completely against the National Conference’s stand on regional autonomy. “Also, the report does not go as far as we want on the question of autonomy. It does not address our demands in terms of the pre-1953 position,” he said.
Asked as to why he believes that the report offers a way forward, Omar said no other report has been formed with such a lot of work done behind it. The interlocutors visited every district of the state and met more than 700 delegations from almost every school of thought. It is impossible to form a report that everybody will agree with. “On the table, we can try and narrow down our differences,” he said.
Omar said the follow up of interlocutors report is clearly not a priority in Delhi at the moment. “I wish it was. Knowing the problems the UPA is grappling with, I do not envy the Prime Minister at all. Given a chance, the PM will like nothing more than this dialogue process to start and reach somewhere,” he said.
To a question as to why is it important to move on the report now, Omar said, “We risk frittering away this opportunity because Jammu and Kashmir is at the cusp of normalcy it has not seen in many years in the past. Unfortunately, such opportunities don’t come very easily. Today, the situation is not forcing us to talk. It is an opportunity to talk without a gun put to your head.”
Asked if such talks make sense when the separatist Hurriyat Conference is not on board, Omar said that nobody has stopped the Hurriyat from coming to the table. “To my knowledge, the Centre had asked the Hurriyat to make recommendations in writing but they never did. So, their opinion on the report does not matter a bit,” he said.
Chief minister observed that whether one likes it or not, the Hurriyat is a stakeholder here. To what extent do they exert influence on public opinion is open to discussion.
He viewed that the biggest stumbling block for forward movement on Kashmir is not the absence of will on the part of the Centre but a cussed mindset that the BJP is in today. They (the BJP) are determined to, by hook or by crook, shoot down any initiative on Kashmir. “It is very similar to the opposition I face here in the state from the People’s Democratic Party,” he said.
Omar viewed that BJP by trashing the report wants political capital to take advantage of in the 2014 elections. “The BJP has never put national interest before party interest. I do not for a moment expect them to rise above partisan interest. For the BJP, Kashmir has always been an election issue – whether it’s Article 370 or planting a flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar,” he said.
To a question that in such a political scenario, is he not betting too much on AFSPA and the interlocutors’ report, Omar said, “The door on AFSPA is still open. Nobody expects a miraculous solution out of one meeting on the report. Let’s take the report to the all-party meeting. We may not agree on big-ticket recommendations such as a constitutional review committee but there are a whole lot of recommendations that can be agreed upon to roll out as confidence-building steps to solidify the gains on the security front in Kashmir. I have been cautioning all along that you cannot afford to take your eye off the ball here.”
He alleged that Pakistan has been dragging its feet on converting the barter trade into banking trade (on LoC) on letter of credit. “They send us 30 trucks of oranges and we reciprocate with an equal number of trucks of apples. Also, we need to reverse the current practice of trade on positive list to negative list. Both steps will dramatically alter the trans-LoC trade,” chief minister said.
Asked whether it worries him that in the absence of political initiatives, the situation may slide back, chief minister said, “I am not worried but it will be foolish on my part to completely ignore the possibility. There is a concerted effort being made by separatists to provoke sectarian violence, which we are guarding against. Two years ago, I would not have been bothered about what they do. Now definitely I am. The separatists’ constituency widens enormously when things are a bit unsettled here. Their importance is inversely related to the happiness of people. So they want people to be unhappy to be more relevant.”
He denied the opposition charge that he is not doing enough to stem rampant corruption. “Their charge is not true. We have institutions such as the State Accountability Commission and the Vigilance Commission to deal with corruption. Why don’t they take the complaints and evidence to this body? There are hardly three or four Vigilance cases waiting for prosecution sanction. We have taken the transparency in transfers, tendering and procurement to a level that never existed before. But, if you ask me whether corruption has been curbed completely, the answer is no. It’s a deep-rooted disease,” he said.
To a question that his alliance partner, Congress, has been sniping at him, Omar stated that only one or two leaders on both sides have fondness for going to the newspapers. “But, if you look at the cabinet functioning, there is a lot less friction than what was in the previous PDP-Congress dispensation. There is no Mamata Banerjee in our coalition,” he said.
Asked whether NC will remain with the UPA through the 2014 elections, Omar stated that they will decide the issue close to the elections but there is a lot of meeting of minds with the Congress.
Regarding re-inventing NC to induct fresh blood, he said re-inventing as old a party as the NC can trigger trouble. “This is what my father tried doing overnight when he took over the baton from my grandfather, and faced the consequences in 1984. I believe in a gradual generational transition.” |
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