New Delhi, April 25
The outcome of the third roundtable on Jammu and Kashmir, which concluded here yesterday, clearly brings out the determination of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make the exercise result oriented by involving all shades of opinion, including the separatists.
This is the dominant view of most of the political parties and groups encompassing various shades of opinion as credible mechanism are being put in place to implement the recommendations of four of the five working groups.
The opening and closing remarks of Dr Singh provides hope. The Prime Minister made commitments, which means business contrary to a minuscule few like the BJP which believes that the roundtable will remain an exercise in futility if the political process and institutions are not strengthened.
The Prime Minister has clearly shown the will to carry the process of finding solutions to the problems afflicting Jammu and Kashmir forward through the process of consultation and dialogue while taking due note of the desires of the traumatised people of the sensitive border state.
In his closing remarks, Dr Singh's emphasis was the need to keep moving forward. “I agree that we need to keep this process moving forward if we have to retain and build on this sense of hope. The last two decades of militancy in J and K have extracted a huge physical and emotional toll
on the people of the state. They certainly have a right to hope for a better future. All of us sitting in the room - and all those not in the room too - have an obligation to deliver tangible results which live up to their hopes and expectations.”
He expressed confidence that the problems of specific regions like Ladakh and specific groups like the Kashmiri Pandits and other migrants could get resolved by implementing the reports of the working groups.
The Prime Minister stressed lasting peace will not come through instant deals. “It will only come when the stakeholders - the people themselves - become the torchbearers of peace. We are not trying to mechanically impose solutions from above. We are working for a blueprint of a new future.
CPI-M’s Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said the Prime Minister had shown the will to carry things forward. He failed to understand why mainstream political parties and the separatists could not be part of the roundtable conference on J and K when they were together at other conferences and platforms.
National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah took exception to the Centre according so much weightage to the separatist Hurriyat Conference. He said let the “Hurriyat Conference face the ballot along with all of us and their so called following in the valley will be unmasked.”
Panther's Party chief Bhim Singh maintained that while there was no need for the separatists to boycott the conference, he said the Prime Minister's commitment and resolve to strengthen the peace process was there for all to see.
