The Hindu : Cong. supports Centre's initiative, Azad tells Vohra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2003

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Cong. supports Centre's initiative, Azad tells Vohra

By Our Special Correspondent

SRINAGAR APRIL 26. Delegations of the Congress, the Panun Kashmir, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Awami League have called on the Centre's interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir, N.N. Vohra, and put forth their points of view. Mr. Vohra has been camping here since Monday.

The Congress which is a partner in the ruling coalition in the State, has fully supported the Centre's initiative on restoring peace and this was conveyed to Mr. Vohra by the Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, last evening.

Accompanied by the Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, and Saifuddin Soz, the delegation said the Congress was committed to a peaceful solution through the dialogue process, and said it strongly supported the Centre's decision to initiate the process. The dialogue should be held with all sections of civil society and political parties of all the three regions of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh, particularly with the elected representatives, to evolve a broadbased consensus to preserve the unity and integrity and the secular fabric of the State.

The Panun Kashmir delegation led by its chairman, Ajay Chrungoo, told Mr. Vohra that the crisis in the State basically reflected the failure of the secular, nation-building process. The Nadimarg massacre justified their view that the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Hindus in the Kashmir Valley was possible only if they were settled in an area north and east of the Jhelum. This area should be centrally administered as a Union Territory. The delegation presented the plight of their community, whose human rights were grossly violated by radical Islamists and made a strong plea for the provision of employment opportunities and improvement in the condition of the migrant camps in Jammu.

D.S. Deepak led a delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Kashmir) and emphasised that Sikhs, who had lived in the State for several hundred years, were a party to the Kashmir dispute and should be duly involved in any dialogue process. The delegates referred to the plight of Sikhs in the Valley, who had been victims of militant violence as in the Chhatisinghpora massacre. The interests of the Sikhs, being a very small minority, were being grossly neglected; they had lost their trade and business and loans were denied to them to start new enterprises; they did not have any representative in the State Legislature since 1983.

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