The BJP on Saturday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to divulge the details of the solution to the Kashmir issue that he claimed was “in sight” in his Presser.
The BJP also took a dig at Singh’s repeated assertions that history would be kinder to him than the contemporary media and the Opposition, saying even for history to make assessment of the Prime Minister’s tenure, these details would be of immense help. “What was this possible resolution on KashmirIJ The people of India are entitled to know an answer to this question,” leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
The BJP leader said the Prime Minister during his Press conference on Friday revealed for the first time that secret envoys from India and Pakistan had almost arrived at a meeting to resolve the conflict on Kashmir, but when a breakthrough appeared “in sight” the then Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf had to make way for others and the agreement got blocked.
“Since the Prime Minister for the first time informed the nation that a resolution on Kashmir was almost agreed to, it is eminently desirable that he takes the nation into confidence on the specifics he had in mind about the failed solution,” the senior BJP leader said in an article.
Replying to a query about reports that India and Pakistan were on the verge of a historic deal on Jammu and Kashmir, the PM had said: “I have tried to improve relations with all our neighbours to the best of my ability and on one time it appeared that the important breakthrough was in sight. Events in Pakistan for example that General Pervez Musharraf had to make way for a different set up. I think that led to the process not moving further.”
Referring to Pakistan’s view of the loC’s dilution, tripartite arrangement on Kashmir and its de-militarization being part of this “breakthrough”, Jaitley said: “I hope the Government was not working in this direction.”
“The journey of the past 67 years has been from separate status towards separatism. The Congress stands for separate status, the National Conference advocates pre-1953 status, the PDP talks of self-rule, the separatists talk of ‘Azadi’. Each one of these is intended to dilute India’s sovereignty. Their intention is to weaken the constitutional and political link between Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of the country. It is in this context that one needs to know the details of what this ‘almost arrived at’ agreed resolution between Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Government and Pakistan wasIJ” Jaitley asked.
He said the stated position of the country has been clear that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the Parliament had unanimously passed a resolution in 1994 asserting that POK was an integral part of India’s territory, even as India firmly believes that no third party intervention in Kashmir is permissible. Jaitley said he hoped that he does not have to wait for the memoirs of the Prime Minister to know the truth.