A delegation of opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir met President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday to seek a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the State.
The move triggered a serious war of words between Nation Conference president Omar Abdullah and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav.
The five member delegation led by Mr.Abdullah sought President Mukherjee’s intervention “to impress upon the Central government to initiate a credible and meaningful process of political dialogue without any further delay involving all stakeholders to address the issue.”
‘No force against civilians’ “We also request you to influence the Central and the State governments to stop the use of lethal force against civilians in the Valley,” the delegation urged upon the president.
Since the delegation outrightly tore apart the government’s response to the crisis describing it as “the failure of the State and the Centre to acknowledge that the issue in Kashmir is largely of a political nature,” the BJP was quick to hit back.
Mr. Madhav lambasted the delegation, reminding the National Conference and the Congress of not offering “Azadi (freedom)” to Kashmiris when they jointly ruled the State during the 2010 agitation. “Talk of political solution is only to score political points. They did nothing to help State bring normalcy. In stead helped spread unrest,” Mr. Madhav tweeted.
In a biting response, Mr. Abdullah described Mr. Madhav’s reaction as “sly” and challenged him “to prove that any of us spread unrest.” “We have offered you solutions both while in power & out of it but you are deaf to what you don't like hearing!,” Mr. Abdullah further tweeted.
Published - August 20, 2016 03:52 pm IST
