Opposition parties in Kashmir which met here on Wednesday decided to approach President Pranab Mukherjee and other political parties of India to apprise them of the situation in the Valley and demanded a probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into allegations of excessive use of force by government forces personnel.The meeting that was presided by National Conference working president Omar Abdullah was participated by almost all the opposition parties including Congress party. Independent members including Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, Hakeem Muhammad Yasin, Ghulam Hasan Mir and Engineer Rasheed also participated in the meeting.Sources told CNS that the during the meeting a resolution was passed and it was decided that the opposition parties will meet President of India to apprise him about the ground reality of Kashmir. The members also demanded that an judicial commission headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge should be appointed to probe the killings of innocent civilians. It was also demanded that a special Assembly session should be called to assess the present situation. During the meeting it was also decided that government should be asked to stop nocturnal raids and random arrests of youth. The members also urged upon the government of India to initiate unconditional dialogue with all the stake holders in Kashmir.
The meeting that was called by Opposition parties led by Omar Abdullah to assess the current Kashmir situation that lasted for more than four hours during which Legislator from Langate Engineer Rasheed asked all the political leaders to get united and pitch for the plebiscite of Kashmir. Insiders informed CNS that there was exchange of heated arguments between Engineer Rasheed and Congress leader Shaym Lal Sharma when the later claimed that people of Jammu are not supporting what Kashmiri’s want. Rasheed confronted him saying that Jammu is not limited to only two and a half districts but Chenab Valley and PIr Panjal are also the parts of Jammu where people seek independence from India.Sources said that Rasheed criticized all the participants when they tried to thank all the political leaders of India for raising Kashmir issue. Rasheed reminded the participants that none of the political leaders is sincere towards Kashmir. He also asked National Conference to forget about Autonomy and support and demand plebiscite for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, that was out-rightly rejected by the members from National Conference.
Meanwhile, a handout issued by Awami Itihad Party said that during the meeting Rashid expressed forcefully the demand to pass a resolution seeking right to self determination for people of J&K and also put forward his suggestion that all the MLAs should submit mass resignations from assembly, so that pressure is built upon New-Delhi to acknowledge the dispute but his both suggestions found no takers during the meeting. AIP also expressed its dissent over three points of the joint statement while it agreed with the rest points on which consensus was reached in the meeting. The points which AIP rejected in the Joint statement and expressed its dissent included thanking opposition parties in the parliament for raising the Kashmir Issue, Stress for implementing working group recommendations and asking GoI to start dialogue with stake holders.Elaborating further Engineer Rashid said “There is no need to thank Indian Parliamentarians as they have just expressed their concern over human rights violations, but all of them were quick to add that J&K is Integral part of India, hence ignoring the real political nature of the dispute. Similarly there is no fun in seeking implementation of working groups as Kashmiris have not started mass uprising to seek few administrative concessions, as recommended by the working groups”. The third point on which AIP disagreed was the demand asking New-Delhi to initiate dialogue with stake holders as Er Rashid suggested that rather being apologetic we should tell New-Delhi and Islamabad louder and clear that the only way to resolve dispute is to implement UN resolution on both sides of Line of Control. (CNS)