Date:09/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/09/stories/2008080959971000.htm

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All-party delegation visiting Jammu today

New Delhi Bureau

BJP nominates Arun Jaitley as team member

Centre will “go step by step” in finding a solution
“This time we want to hear what they have to say”

NEW DELHI: An 18-member all-party delegation, headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday and Sunday to assess the situation in the wake of the continuing agitation in Jammu over the Amarnath land transfer issue.

Besides Union Ministers Saifuddin Soz (Congress), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD), A Raja (DMK), Prithviraj Chavan and Sriprakash Jaiswal (both Congress), the other members are Arun Jaitley (BJP), Amar Singh (SP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D. Raja (CPI), Mohsina Kidwai (Congress), Farooq Abdullah (NC), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), K. C. Tyagi (JD-U), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Akhthar Hassan (BSP) and R C Paswan (LJP). A TDP member would also join the team.

The decision to send a delegation was taken at an all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 6.

The Samiti has, in the meantime, announced extension of its agitation till August 14.

Mr. Shivraj Patil has said that the Centre would “go step by step,” in finding a solution to the Amarnath land row.

Asked if the government would offer a proposal to resolve the dispute, he told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s “Devil’s Advocate” that “this time we want to hear what they have to say. We will hear first and cull out common points and do something in such a manner to give satisfaction to all concerned.”

He parried a direct reply to a question on whether bifurcation or trifurcation of the State could be a solution.

He said it was a “very big issue” and not proper for a Minister to comment. It should be left to the government, he said.

“Congress, PDP to blame for the mess”

Earlier, BJP president Rajnath Singh telephoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and conveyed the party decision to nominate Arun Jaitley. Mr. Jaitley, general secretary and election in-charge for the State has been watching the happenings in Jammu in connection with the agitation related to the Amarnath issue.

BJP leaders V.K. Malhotra and Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday described the agitation as a “struggle between nationalists [in Jammu] and separatists [in the Kashmir Valley].” They blamed the Congress-People’s Democratic Party coalition government in the State for the present mess.

The party expressed the hope that the delegation would hold “meaningful and time-bound” talks with the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (led by the RSS) leaders in Jammu.

Mr. Prasad said it was for the Centre to take “constructive and positive steps” that could lead to a resolution of the crisis. He added that the attempt to lift the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the crisis over the Amarnath issue were not isolated events.

Mr. Malhotra said that over the years successive governments in New Delhi had tried to give the “healing touch” to Kashmiris in the Valley and “this had hurt the Jammu psyche.” The people of Jammu “cannot be held hostage to a highly skewed and discriminatory Kashmir-oriented policy,” he said.