The UPA government’s efforts to end the tension in Jammu & Kashmir over land allotment for the Amarnath pilgrimage have been overtaken by fears that the ongoing violence in Kashmir could consolidate the separatists and revive insurgency in the state.
Although the Centre is ready with a formula, mooted by National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, as a way out of the conflict between the state’s two regions — Jammu and Kashmir —sources said its announcement has been delayed in view of the “changing situation” due to the ongoing violence in Kashmir.
The Centre, after talks with the all-party team that visited the state last week, has decided to withdraw all previous orders related to the land and instead implement a J&K High Court’s order that asks the government to “look after the interests’’ of the Amarnath pilgrims. This would side-step the issue of transfer of the land to the Amarnath shrine board while providing facilities to the pilgrims.
Sources said the BJP had also agreed to this although the Jammu-based Sri Amarnath Shrine Sangharsh Samiti (SASSS) continues to demand that nothing short of land transfer to the board would make it call off its 42-day agitation in the Jammu region. Sources said to defuse the situation in Jammu, the government has even agreed to transfer Governor NN Vohra to another state after normalcy is restored in Jammu.
However, the killing of at least 13 people in police firing in the Kashmir valley today has sent shock waves in the government circles. Home Minister Shivraj Patil discussed the situation with the members of the political parties who had visited the state recently. He also remained huddled with security officials and political leaders from the state.
Union Water Resources Minister Saifudin Soz has left for Srinagar to take stock of the situation on the eve of an all-party meet convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh crisis tomorrow.
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Sources said with the violence showing no signs of abating, the Assembly elections, due in October, are likely to be postponed. Though there is no official word yet, sources in the government say elections in the state appears to be a distant dream at present. “We are not even thinking about it,’’ a senior functionary of the government told Business Standard.
The Election Commission had tentatively scheduled the elections in October-November as the new legislative assembly is to be constituted before November 20.
The commission recently postponed a meeting to discuss the election schedule for five states including Jammu and Kashmir. The elections in Jammu & Kashmir are held over a month and are likely to be held between October 15 and mid-November.
Political parties across the state are feeling nervous about the ongoing turmoil on their future. The Congress, which won 22 seats in the 87-member Assembly in 2002, fears a rout, while the National Conference and the Peoples’ Democratic party fear that the consolidation of the anti-election groups would upset their apple-cart.
The BJP, which could stand to gain in Jammu region, may be the only party willing to go for early elections in the state.