Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 22: Expressing serious concern over escalation of tension between India and Pakistan and its ramifications on peace and stability of the region, main opposition National Conference (NC) said the party is equally concerned about the absence of any meaningful political initiative from New Delhi to deal with the political situation in Kashmir.
“While the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference joins the people of the State in expressing serious concern over the escalation of tension and hostility between India and Pakistan and the ramifications of this situation on peace and stability in the region. We are equally concerned about the absence of any meaningful political initiative from New Delhi to deal with the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” a joint statement of NC president Farooq Abdullah and working president Omar Abdullah said.
The statement said unfortunately, despite the alarming situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the horrifying human costs of this current unrest, New Delhi continues to look at the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir through a security prism.
Asserting that security measures cannot be an alternatives to a political initiative, it said, “Recent indications of New Delhi taking steps to increase military presence and re-establish military camps and bunkers in Kashmir have augmented the sense disaffection and skepticism in the State.”
It said multiple visits by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh as well as the visit by the Parliamentary All Parties’ Delegation has yielded no result and failed to create conducive atmosphere for the initiation of a sustainable and meaningful political process.
Similarly, it said a joint outreach by a delegation of opposition parties from J&K that called on the President and the Prime Minister in New Delhi in addition to other national leaders has also failed to convince New Delhi about the sensitivity and urgency of the evolving situation in J&K.
“Even suggestions to take certain basic, interim measures to deescalate the situation in J&K ? while contours of a larger initiative are conceived ? have been summarily ignored,” it said.
“With more than eighty young boys and girls having lost their lives, numerous youth permanently blinded and more than 13,000 having been injured, such blatant disregard for the current situation in J&K is extremely unfortunate and tragic. This indifference and perceived insensitivity can have serious long term implications,” it said.
The NC leaders said New Delhi’s refusal to take concrete and visible steps to address the internal dimensions of the political issue in J&K, even within the often articulated ‘framework of the Constitution of India’ has become a diplomatic weakness that is exploited time and again at various international forums.
“Lack of a structured and sustained bilateral engagement between New Delhi and Islamabad over the last few years has also created a gaping political vacuum that threatens peace and stability in the region,” the statement said.
“The current policy of dealing with the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir operationally is a reiteration of the tried, tested and failed formulations of dealing with an inherently political issue through military and administrative means,” it said.
The statement said mass arrests and widespread curbs in the State will only deepen the sense of alienation among youth and take us further away from the goal of peace and reconciliation. “We hope New Delhi acknowledges the unaffordable costs of ignoring the political issue in Jammu and Kashmir are primarily to be borne by people of the State,” it added.
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