08-18-2008, 10:07 PM
http://indiareacts.com/archivedebates/na...recno=1706
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Confusion in Congress: The party is divided between its virtually non-existent Kashmir unit (save for the ultra redundant Saifuddin Soz, who's parked permanently in Delhi) and its Jammu segment. The Jammu Congress has joined the Jammu agitators. The Congress's Central leadership is unable to reconcile to this, and is covered up in embarrassment. It has probably tried to stop Karan Singh from going ballistic against Vohra and the entire mess, but that's no help. The biggest gaffe is of one Congress spokesperson speaking of an economic blockade of Kashmir, while both the Union home minister, Shivraj Patil, and the junior minister in the prime minister's office, Prithviraj Chavan, have issued categorical denials. So why is the Congress party opposing its own government at the Centre? Is it a case of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds? Well, the truth is, the Congress is finished in the Valley after the police firings. And if it persists with its fraudulence, it will total up in Jammu.
Best for the Congress is to pull back from making damaging statements, and allow the Manmohan Singh government to handle the mess. As such, this government has advertised its incompetence in this crisis, without the party making it worse. Assorted Congress spokespersons should be told to shut up about J and K, and if Soz has a problem, he should be dispatched to Kashmir. It is about time this Kashmiri discard earned his ministership.
Manmohan Singh & the government: Having failed on the security front, there is no hope that the prime minister can deliver on the Amarnath land crisis or on the spurt of separatism in the Valley. The Times of India today quoted an MP saying of the all-party deliberations called by the PM, "The effort seems to be leading us towards paralysis through analysis." Action is now called for. Shooting protestors is not the answer. There must be a shake up in the administration starting from Vohra, and the message must go that the government means business. After all these years of peace â or relative peace â in J and K, this violence is unacceptable. Second, after the administrative shake up, the PM must take direct charge. That means the course of leaving decisions to all the parties to take has to be abandoned. By all means continue with all-party talks, but the government cannot abdicate its decision-making responsibilities.
In the worst way, the government showed it was not risk averse on the Indo-US nuclear deal. If it indeed be compared, J and K is more critical at this time than the nuclear deal, and the PM is missing on J and K. Rather than expect any solution from the government, the question to ask is, where is the PM on J and K?
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Confusion in Congress: The party is divided between its virtually non-existent Kashmir unit (save for the ultra redundant Saifuddin Soz, who's parked permanently in Delhi) and its Jammu segment. The Jammu Congress has joined the Jammu agitators. The Congress's Central leadership is unable to reconcile to this, and is covered up in embarrassment. It has probably tried to stop Karan Singh from going ballistic against Vohra and the entire mess, but that's no help. The biggest gaffe is of one Congress spokesperson speaking of an economic blockade of Kashmir, while both the Union home minister, Shivraj Patil, and the junior minister in the prime minister's office, Prithviraj Chavan, have issued categorical denials. So why is the Congress party opposing its own government at the Centre? Is it a case of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds? Well, the truth is, the Congress is finished in the Valley after the police firings. And if it persists with its fraudulence, it will total up in Jammu.
Best for the Congress is to pull back from making damaging statements, and allow the Manmohan Singh government to handle the mess. As such, this government has advertised its incompetence in this crisis, without the party making it worse. Assorted Congress spokespersons should be told to shut up about J and K, and if Soz has a problem, he should be dispatched to Kashmir. It is about time this Kashmiri discard earned his ministership.
Manmohan Singh & the government: Having failed on the security front, there is no hope that the prime minister can deliver on the Amarnath land crisis or on the spurt of separatism in the Valley. The Times of India today quoted an MP saying of the all-party deliberations called by the PM, "The effort seems to be leading us towards paralysis through analysis." Action is now called for. Shooting protestors is not the answer. There must be a shake up in the administration starting from Vohra, and the message must go that the government means business. After all these years of peace â or relative peace â in J and K, this violence is unacceptable. Second, after the administrative shake up, the PM must take direct charge. That means the course of leaving decisions to all the parties to take has to be abandoned. By all means continue with all-party talks, but the government cannot abdicate its decision-making responsibilities.
In the worst way, the government showed it was not risk averse on the Indo-US nuclear deal. If it indeed be compared, J and K is more critical at this time than the nuclear deal, and the PM is missing on J and K. Rather than expect any solution from the government, the question to ask is, where is the PM on J and K?
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