NEW DELHI – Former Indian finance minister and senior Congress leader PChidambaram on Sunday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government for its failure to restore peace in occupied Kashmir.
Hitting out at the Narendra Modi government for its handling of violence inoccupied Kashmir former Union Home Minister has stirred up a freshcontroversy on the issue.
Writing in an Indian national daily, Chidambaram termed the Kashmir issueas “a long-pending dispute concerning accession”, a stand that even his ownparty, the Congress may dissociate from.
Chidambaram slammed the Centre’s “hard, muscular, militaristic” approach inhandling terrorism in the disputed region in a series of tweets, and saidthe action far from yielding positive results has exacerbated the probleminstead.
“It was claimed that the hard, muscular, militaristic approach will put anend to infiltration and militancy. Has it?” he said in a tweet.
Quoting data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), he pointed outthat the number of civilians and terrorists killed in occupied Kashmir hadalmost doubled from 28 to 57 and from 110 to 218 from 2014 to 2017,respectively.
The number of security forces killed had also shot up from 47 to 83 in thisperiod.
Chidambaram also agreed that “infiltration and militancy, supported byPakistan, have caused turmoil” in the disputed territory, a claim denied byIslamabad. But, then he said, “It would be wrong to think that the issue isinfiltration and militancy.”
“Infiltration and militancy are the consequences of the issue. The issue isthe long-pending dispute concerning the accession of Kashmir,” Chidambaramsaid.
Commenting on the appointment of Dineshwar Sharma as the interlocutor forKashmir, Chidambaram said the initiative was rebuffed by variousstakeholders in the valley as a pre-poll gimmick.
“On the eve of the election in Gujarat, the government appointed DineshwarSharma as Special Representative, but his mandate was not clear.
“Subsequently, it was indicated that the SR will talk to anyone who waswilling to meet him, and therein lies the catch… The way forward is toinvite all stakeholders for talks. Unfortunately, the stakeholders haveperceived the appointment of the SR as a pre-election gimmick and havetotally rebuffed the good fellow,” he tweeted.
The Congress leader said that wisdom lay in actively working towards apolitical solution to the issues of the disputed region, where movement toattain the right of self-determination has claimed thousands of lives.
Chidambaram said that the Modi government was not keen on finding asolution to Kashmir issue while praising the efforts taken by Vajpayee andManmohan Singh governments in the past.
He said, “The fault of the present government is that it does not seem towant a solution; it is not making a diligent effort to seek a solution; andby shutting the door on talks with all the stakeholders, it has forecloseda solution in the near future.”
“The way forward is to invite all stakeholders for talks,” Chidambaram saidwhile demanding dismissal of the Mehbooba Mufti government of Jammu andKashmir.
Chidambaram prescribed a solution saying that the Centre should “promulgateGovernor’s Rule in the state…announce that the Central government will holdtalks with all stakeholders…appoint interlocutors to pave the way fortalks…Reduce the presence of the Army and paramilitary in the KashmirValley and hand over the task of maintaining law and order to the statepolice…”
Separately, another Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s rhetoric over occupied Kashmir had come apart.
“Soldiers and policemen martyred almost daily. Will government explain?When will we stop losing lives?” he demanded in a tweet.
The double-edged criticism came a day after a blast rocked the Soporedistrict in which four policemen lost their lives.
Chidambaram, a long-time advocate of autonomy in Kashmir, had recentlysparked controversy when he’d suggested the question of greater autonomyshould be ‘seriously examined’ and it should be considered in which areasit could be granted.