JK News Today
Jammu, June 23:
On the eve of the All- Party meet on Kashmir , the pitch raised by some of the leaders of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration for talks with Pakistan is wrecking the process that has come to them as an opportunity to raise the issues of the people who want them to demonstrate leadership by being sensitive to their economic and other concerns.
The people want their economic hardships due to the pandemic inflicted lockdowns and absence of complete political system to be placed before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The people know that it is a unique opportunity for the leaders to articulate their issues , and if they fail to do so, they would be unforgiving .
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti surprised many when after the formal briefing of the PAGD on the talking points at the all-party meet in Delhi on Thursday , said that Delhi should talk to Pakistan on Kashmir . The context was clear that she, and other leaders of the Alliance were incapable of saying and doing things that the people expected of them, or she was trying to please the quarters that wanted erosion of the sanctity of the talks scheduled with the Prime Minister on June 24.
Somewhere down the line , a message has been sent that these leaders , especially Mehbooba Mufti and her seniors in the PAGD, particularly Farooq Abdullah, were unaware of the realities of the ground and were back to the politics of slogans.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated it a number of times that his country wants India to reverse the August 5 2019 decisions of revocation of the Article 370 and Article 35 A , and has made such a scenario as a condition for talks with Delhi . That has led to the freezing of the talks after all the celebrations over the February 25 reiteration of the ceasefire at Line of Control .
The talks between the two countries are not moving ahead because of Islamabad’s bid to interfere in the internal affairs of India . And if this was echoed by Mehbooba, and others by demanding reversal of August 5 decisions , they were indulging in empty rhetoric and spoiling atmosphere ahead of talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has gone out of his way to hold the talks with the PAGD leaders. The people have seen through their hypocrisy that they choose politics of convenience , they had taken part in the DDC polls are keen to take part in the future Assembly polls under the Indian constitution and at the same time are bringing in foreign countries into their narratives.
It is a well-known fact that the PAGD was formed in October last year with what it called “a commitment to restore the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. But they also knew that the nation’s mood is against all what they are demanding
.The Article 370 was not abrogated simply because it was BJP’s ideological agenda and that it had listed it in its election manifesto of 2019, but also because the nation wanted it. The nation had mandated the elected representatives of the parliament for that, it became clear when the decision was supported by non-NJP parties as well.
The PAGD, which essentially translates into National Conference of Abdullahs and PDP of Mehbooba Mufti and few other splinter groups in Kashmir politics ,is going to talks as leaders who were once elected to the Assembly and occupied high positions in the erstwhile state governments , should have known that they have been invited for the meet as those once upon a time representatives of people, and not as proxy of Pakistan .
Farooq Abdullah and other leaders in the Alliance should know that there is a decorum for talks. If they asking for reversal of things on their own ,, they would be responsible for burning the bridges even before these have been built .
