Blaming Pakistan for Kashmir won’t do: Congress

Rajnath alleges Pakistan not stopping from meddling in Indian affairs; says all parties’ conference on Kashmir round the corner

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh alleged on Wednesday that Pakistan has not refrained from interfering in Indian affairs. Talking about the unrest in Kashmir, he said a decision could be taken on sending an all-party delegation to Kashmir after discussions with the state chief minister on the terms and modalities of engagement.

The international media reported that Singh said the Indian government will “talk to all no doubt”, responding to opposition queries on whether “moderates, political parties and others” will be included in the dialogue. He, however, ruled out discussing Kashmir with Pakistan.

“Kashmir is an inseparable part of India. No power on earth can separate it from India,” Singh said while replying to the debate in the upper house. “Talks would not be held with Pakistan regarding Kashmir,” he added.

At least 55 people have been killed – most of them in police firing – following the street unrest in Kashmir to protest against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces last month. The region has been under curfew for 33 days.

The Indian Congress, however, came down hard on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Kashmir. Congress veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to stop blaming Pakistan for the Kashmir unrest as it was India’s problem and advised the ruling dispensation to initiate a parallel dialogue with both Pakistan and the separatist leaders.

“Kashmir is our problem; we cannot keep saying Pakistan is causing it. They will keep doing what they are doing with regard to Kashmir. The talks should continue between both the countries. And also with all leaders be it Hurriyat or Mufti ji or separatist leadership,” Aiyar told ANI on Wednesday.

“There is a need to understand that it is not enough to just have Kashmir, we have to ensure Kashmiris are ours. We will have to initiate a dialogue process with the people of Kashmir so that not just Kashmir but Kashmiris are ours,” he added.

“If he does not talk to Pakistan or does not speak with disgruntled in Kashmir, whom will he talk to? The ‘gau rakshaks’,” he added sarcastically. The Congress veteran also criticised Prime Minister Modi over his assertion that his government would take Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s path on Kashmir. “But I believe that he should not completely follow Vajpayee ji’s path. What Narasimha Rao has said in 1995 that as far as autonomy is concerned, sky is the limit. Modi ji should think about that also. The composite dialogue which IK Gujral had started in 1997; Modi ji should take that also into consideration. What Dr Manmohan Singh has done in his tenure even that Modi ji should keep in mind,” he added.

“How come the prime minister address Kashmir from Madhya Pradesh? Why not from the House,” Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who also served as puppet chief minister of Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK), asked while starting a debate on Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha. “Is there no value of parliament?” he asked.

“Modi tweets on events across the world, but was silent on Kashmir crisis. When something happens in Africa, the prime minister tweets about it. But when the Taj of India is burning, the heat is not reaching the central government,” Azad said.

“We were told that he spoke on the Kashmir issue in Madhya Pradesh because the chief minister told him to do so. This shows that the parliament means nothing to the PM and he would not have spoken on the Kashmir issue if the chief minister had not asked him to do so,” he said.

“Do not only love the beauty of Kashmir. Love those who have been blinded, injured and killed,” he added, in an apparent reference to Modi’s remarks that “every Indian loves Kashmir.”

Azad said that IOK is not like other Indian states. “IOK government is dependent on the Centre and central forces for maintaining law and order in the state. If someone says that Mehbooba Mufti should alone solve the problem in Kashmir, that is not possible for her,” he added.

The Congress leader said that everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy. “Many of us have lost their near and dear ones due to this militancy in Kashmir,” he said. “Militants have no religion. A militant is a militant: be it from Kashmir or Punjab,” he said.

Making an intervention during Azad’s speech, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that “Jammu and Kashmir is facing a sensitive situation today, there’s a need for all of us to speak in one voice.”

Breaking his silence on the 32-day turmoil in Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday advocated a path of “democracy and dialogue” to restore peace in the spirit of ‘insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat’. It was the slogan of Atal Behari Vajpaiee when tried to woo the Kashmiris 16 years ago. The Indian home minister announced in Rajya Sabha that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend an all-party meeting on the unrest in Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) tomorrow on (Friday August 12). The House unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a return to normalcy in Kashmir.