PDP leader Muzaffar Baig offers to quit from Lok Sabha

JAMMU:
Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig today offered to resign from the Lok Sabha in the wake of attack over his statement on rehabilitation of West Pakistan refugees in Jammu and Kashmir and for favouring party’s alliance with BJP.
He said he had written to PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, saying if his intentions are “suspected”, his letter of resignation from Parliament should be forwarded to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
“There has been a whisper campaign that I am pushing for an alliance between BJP and PDP because I would like to get some personal benefit out of it.
“I have made it clear to both the BJP emissary as well as PDP leadership that I express my views without any desire or agenda to secure any political position,” said the former Deputy Chief Minister in a four-page statement here.
He said he had submitted a written communication to PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed “with the request that my letter of resignation from Parliament should be forwarded to the Speaker of Lok Sabha, if my intentions are ever suspected”.
The lawyer-turned-politician referred to his remarks regarding the possibility of finding a middle path solution to the problem of settlement of Pakistani refugees who are settled along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region.
“I received a call from a very responsible person today asking me the meaning and purpose of expressing my views at this critical juncture. I was told that National Conference and JKLF will take undue advantage of my statement and may probably launch an agitation against the proposed alliance between PDP and BJP,” he said.
He wondered how any person could “misunderstand” his statement where he said that it was a “humanitarian problem” and “not a political problem” and that it should be considered “whether they can be granted the status of permanent residents of the state” if Jammu and Kashmir Constitution permits. (AGENCIES)