Autonomy proposal for Kashmir ill-timed: BJP leader

Prime minister Manmohan Singh's offer to consider autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir was 'ill-timed' and betrayed the Centre's ''vulnerability'', BJP national secretary Muralidhar Rao said today.

''Proposing autonomy at the peak of the agitation in Kashmir shows your vulnerability. It would further fuel the protestors to think they can blackmail the government,'' he told reporters here.

Any political package offered in the present situation would indicate the weakness of the Centre and also further dilute the sovereignty, Rao said.

The government should give a clear signal it will not compromise or bargain on its sovereign territory. ''It is only in that situation that you can go and negotiate,'' he added. 

He said BJP did favour a dialogue but not one ''that would weaken our unity.''

He alleged that the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir was not handling the situation properly
and the UPA government was ''clueless''. 

Referring to reported threats to Sikhs in the valley to convert to Islam, he said this would not only affect the state but the entire fabric of secularism in the country.

BJP would go to any extent to mobilise public opinion in the Kashmir issue as the entire country had a stake in the state, he said.