Don't wreck Vajpayee's initiative in J&K, PDP to BJP

Terming BJP's stand on Kashmir as "negative", PDP today said it was sad the main opposition was trying to "destroy" national consensus on resolution of the issue initiated by none other than party patriarch and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"Kashmir problem cannot be wished away and the first realisation of this fact was articulated by none other than the former Prime Minister (Vajpayee), who had initiated a process of resolution through dialogue and reconciliation," PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said in a statement.

Accusing BJP of reviving its hardline attitude on Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "It was unfortunate that the claimants to Vajpayee's legacy were now trying to wreck any chances of the success of his initiative."

Sayeed said the campaign launched by the BJP in the state had the potential of degenerating into a divisive discourse that would be the last thing that people of Jammu and Kashmir ever needed.

"It is, therefore, necessary that leaders like L K Advani raise the debate on Kashmir to a dignified political levels and use their prestige and stature for onward movement in the resolution effort", the PDP lerader saidd.

He asked the BJP and other NDA constituents to urge the government to come out of its "cosmetic" exercises on Kashmir, resume dialogue with separatists, stop excesses against people and reduce their miseries.

In a resolution passed at a meeting of BJP's central leaders here recently, the party had blamed Nehru's "erroneous" vision for the problems plaguing Jammu and Kashmir, suggesting scrapping of Article 370 and withdrawal of the special status to the state.

Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had told reporters after the meeting that the "weak policies" of the Centre had made separatists think their hope was a "realisable reality".