PMO takes charge of situation in J&K

Worried over the growing rift between Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region on the Amarnath land row, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has started consulting leaders from the troubled state and neutral observers to find ways of defusing the situation there.

Sources said Singh met J&K Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh for about 45 minutes last night, while two MPs from the Jammu region — Madan Lal Sharma and Lal Singh (both from the Congress) —and state CPI(M) general secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami are likely to meet him tomorrow.

Besides, the PM has held consultations with Ashok Bhan, a senior Congress leader from J&K who had been involved in the track II efforts at wooing the separatists in Kashmir in the past. Sushobha Bharve, who heads the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, also met the PM and briefed him about the prevailing situation in the state.

Mainstream political parties, including Panthers Party and even CPI(M), fear that unless the situation is brought under control, the growing polarisation would wipe off the “moderates” in the coming elections.

Singh also invited senior media commentators to discuss the issue, official sources said.

According to sources, right now the Centre is keen to get back-channel communication with the agitators, led by the Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir and the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) in Jammu, started. So far, the Centre’s efforts to initiate talks with the SASS have not borne any fruit.

The proposals given by those meeting the PM include amending the Shrine Board Act, which is the basic legislation on management of Amarnath pilgrimage, to acting tough with the law and order situation in the state.

National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has also been meeting the middle-rung political leaders from the state. Sources said he was likely to visit the state to make an on-the spot assessment of the situation in both the regions later this week.

The PM has intervened in the situation following failure of all the previous initiatives. The all-parties delegation that visited J&K is yet to arrive at a consensus to finalise its report.

The four-member committee appointed by J&K Governor N N Vohra, which was set up to hold discussions with the SASS, is yet to take off.

The Congress has also revived its ‘Kashmir cell’ headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. However, Congress leaders from the state are angry over party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi’s stand that the BJP was behind the agitation in Jammu.

Sources said a delegation of Congress leaders from Jammu met the AICC leaders here today and asked them not to “close their eyes to the reality that the Congress was as much part of the agitation in Jammu as the BJP was”.