The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a parliamentary committee for initiating a sustained dialogue with all shades of opinion, including that of youth, in Jammu and Kashmir. The present situation, it said, should not be misconstrued as a law and order problem.
At a press conference here, party State secretary and MLA M.Y. Tarigami said the committee, if set up, would pave the way for a meaningful dialogue “Political leadership, both in Kashmir as well as in New Delhi, has failed to address the genuine concerns of the people of Kashmir. Innocent lives continue to go waste, and Kashmir people continue to shed tears,” he said.
“By not addressing this problem, I think the political leadership of the country is neither helping the country's interests nor fulfilling its responsibilities,” he said. The root cause of the present unrest must be understood and addressed accordingly. “We should also outline the responses to this situation.”
Asserting that the dialogue was only way to resolve the Kashmir issue, Mr. Tarigami cautioned: “It should not be ad-hoc. All parties should be involved in it. The best way to involve all parties of India is to involve parliamentarians in the dialogue process. In Parliament, we have all political parties. Let there be a parliamentary committee comprising member from each party.”
The committee should hold talks with all shades of opinion. “They should hold talks with the younger generation of Kashmir, which is disillusioned. The youth wants to say something, but unfortunately no body listens to them.”
