Won't burn fingers for nothing, can't form J&K govt just for power: Mufti
Srinagar: Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said the party will take a call on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir as and when it is confident that the vision and mission of its patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed will be carried forward and implemented in letter and spirit.
“Mufti Sahib took a courageous, although unpopular, decision of aligning with BJP with the hope that the Central government headed by Mr Narendra Modi will take decisive measures to address the core political and economic issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir and its people,” a statement issued by the party quoted its president Mehbooba Mufti as saying while addressing a meeting of its leaders, legislators and office-bearers here.
Read: J&K Govt formation: Mehbooba to take call when BJP 'convinces' her
According to the statement, Ms. Mufti said that unfortunately, instead of partnering with and implementing Mr. Sayeed’s vision of bringing peace, stability and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir, certain quarters, both within J&K and in New Delhi, started overtly and covertly triggering frequent controversies over avoidable contentious issues resulting in wastage of the State government’s energies in fire fighting and propitiation.
“In such violative circumstances around, we will have to reassess whether we can absorb the shocks which Mufti Sahib had to do so frequently in his effort to forge reconciliation between the regions and the people of the State,” she said and added that the PDP cannot form a government “just for the sake of power but, if it does, it will be, as envisioned by Mufti Sahib, with the objective of addressing the core political and economic issues confronting J&K as was done by the PDP-led government between 2002 and 2005.
Mufti also said the Government of India shall have to take substantive measures towards implementation of the PDP-BJP “Agenda of Alliance” in the interest of peace and stability in J&K and for this PDP needs a set timeframe to be worked out.
“The PDP will have to reassess whether the Central government is ready to trust the people of Jammu and Kashmir and carry out implementation of ‘Agenda of Alliance’ with sincerity of purpose,” she said and added it has been made clear in the very preamble of the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ that the document is an effort to seek national reconciliation on J&K and facilitate formation of a coalition government in the State that will be empowered to catalyze reconciliation and confidence building process and create conditions to facilitate resolution of all issues of J&K.
The PDP president said as has been made clear in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, it is aimed at sequencing the political process and the economic development and striking the right balance between the two to create a virtuous cycle of peace and prosperity that will accord normal life to the coming generations, “especially those regions who have lived in perpetual strife and conflict.”
“It has been further made clear in the Agenda of Alliance that the present position will be maintained on all the constitutional provisions pertaining to J&K including the special status in the Constitution of India,” she said and added that it has been further made clear that the coalition government in the State will seek to support and strengthen the approach and initiatives taken by the government to create a reconciliatory environment and build stakes for all in the peace and development within the sub-continent including normalization of relations with Pakistan.
Ms. Mufti said that while real progress was made during the past 10 months towards the implementation of good-governance practices listed in the “Agenda of Alliance”, there was little movement forward on implementation of political and economic initiatives. “Instead there were some recurrent unsettling developments which led to lack of congenial atmosphere and had a negative impact even on the good work done on the governance front,” she said and added that even though the PDP-BJP government, under the leadership of Mr. Sayeed, performed extraordinarily and took some pioneering developmental and welfare initiatives, these could not make a mark among the people because of some unsettling issues being raised by certain quarters repeatedly.
She asserted that amid recurring contestations and controversies, Mr. Sayeed worked tirelessly and tried his best to carry everybody along and bring some relief to the people on the governance front and unfortunately, this taxing overdoing ultimately took a heavy toll on his health. “He tried his best to do something for the people and we will have to reassess whether we can make some real difference on the ground by carrying forward his mission, which needs a congenial political atmosphere,” she said.
"PDP is expecting tangible measures from the present government at the Centre to carry forward and take to the logical conclusion, the reconciliation process which was initiated and worked effectively between 2002 and 2005,” she said adding that all these measures have already been enumerated in detail in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ and the only thing needed is its implementation with sincerity of purpose. “We hope the Government of India will take concrete measures towards the implementation of Agenda of Alliance in the interest of peace and stability of the State and the region,” she said and added that more than a government J&K today needs the political will and statesmanship to pull the State out of the morass, which no government in the State could do amid recurrent rumblings over the issues that have already been settled in the constitution.
“We can’t form a government just for the sake of power,” she said and added that if a government is to be formed it will have to address the core political and economic issues confronting J&K to ensure lasting peace and prosperity of the State and its people.
