APHC smells rat in Shah's idea
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Dec 13 — The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has turned down the suggestion of a former Chief Minister, Mr G.M. Shah, to contest the Assembly elections after forcing Dr Farooq Abdullah to quit. The APHC has described the "salvo" fired by Mr Shah against the Abdullah government as part of the political tussle within the Sheikh dynasty.

A senior APHC leader told TNS that Mr G.M. Shah had plans of repeating the 1984 political drama when he with the support of the Congress had dislodged Dr Abdullah's government through defections. He said that presumably Mr Shah, who is the brother-in-law of Dr Abdullah, wanted to "rope us" in his political ambition of regaining power. He made it clear that despite Mr Shah's pronouncement that the state's accession with India was not final and had pleaded for a tripartite talks "we only believe in either holding a plebiscite or purposeful talks for resolving the 50-year-old dispute."

The Awami National Conference convention in Srinagar yesterday was attended by a large number of party workers in which Mr Shah wanted the separatists and the militants to opt for "Sandhook and not Bandook". He favoured tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and said that it may take 10 years or more for such talks to fructify and till then the separatists, especially the APHC, and other mainstream political parties should form a front against the National Conference so that it was defeated in the elections.

In fact the political resolution adopted at the convention and the statement of Mr G.M. Shah gave a clear indication that the son-in-law of Sheikh Abdullah is more angry against the Sheikh's son than against the Government of India. Knowledgeable circles are of the opinion that two major factors had prompted Mr Shah and his supporters to stage a comeback on the political scene with a bang. First, an ANC delegation had visited Delhi where they interacted with senior Congress leaders, including Mr Rajesh Pilot, Mr M.L. Fotedar, Mr Manmohan Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and senior functionaries of the CPI, CPM, Samta Party and the SJP and informed them about the latest political situation in the state. These political leaders were informed that after the formation of the "so called" popular government in the state militancy had taken roots in parts of the Jammu region. They had identified areas where the National Conference Government has committed blunders with the result rate of corruption level and maladministration had enhanced.

These circles said that senior Congress, SP, SJP, CPI and CPM leaders suggested to the ANC delegation that the party should come out of hibernation and launch an effective campaign against the NC Government. The ANC delegation is said to have sought cooperation from these mainstream political parties once it launched political campaign against the NC Government. And this is what the ANC has done by holding the party convention.

Secondly, Mr Shah, who is a shrewd politician and a strong administrator, saw that the atmosphere was opportune for him to resurface in the state. He had watched with interest gradual erosion in the National Conference strength. Whether the erosion is the result of continued cash crunch owing to squeeze in the flow of money from the Centre to the state or due to malfunctioning of the state government, Mr Shah plans to cash on it as he has links with the dissidents in the ruling National Conference.

On his own Mr Shah may not be able to cause deep dent in the ruling National Conference because Dr Abdullah continues to be the tallest political figure. His charisma has, no doubt, dimmed but it is not altogether lost. It cannot be disputed that cash crunch coupled with Central Government's inordinate delay in funding development works and the anti-insurgency action plan had created problems for Dr Abdullah preventing him from fulfilling the commitment he had made to the people in 1996 Assembly poll. But at the same time one does not find a suitable alternative to him and that too in the situation that exists in the state.

To what extent the Congress, the CPI, CPM and the SJP can help the ANC in forming a formidable Front against Dr Abdullah, the ruling National Conference should not treat the "resurgence" of the ANC lightly because of the political permutation and combination among different political groups in Kashmir.

No doubt the ANC delegation had met senior functionaries of the Union Home Ministry in Delhi, but Mr Shah's slogan that separatists should contest Assembly poll on the plank of right of self-determination. This is treated by observers as sinister while referring to the Congress plan of contesting the elections in 1937 with the quit India slogan as the main poll plank.