Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.Y. Tarigami on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a political initiative to follow up on the work done by the Interlocutors in addressing the political issues in Jammu and Kashmir.
He, however, was disappointed at the “non-implementation” of the 8-point Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) announced by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram last year.
Mr. Tarigami told journalists here that while the work of the Centre-appointed Interlocutors had been appreciable during the past one year, “it is now essential that a political initiative comes from the Prime Minister himself.”
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“The efforts of the Interlocutors for resolving political issues can be fruitful only when a dialogue process with forces of dissent in the State is started with the PM,” he said.
He expressed disappointment at what he called non-implementation of the CBMs announced by Mr. Chidambaram on September 25 last. “They were meant to provide relief and instil a sense of security and confidence in the people of J&K. But it is disappointing to see that most of these people-friendly measures are yet to be implemented.”
Citing examples, he said the Centre had advised the State government to release students and youth arrested or detained for stone pelting and other violations of law during the unrest and withdraw charges against them. “But it is unfortunate that either some youth continue to be under detention or cases have not been withdrawn against them.”
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The State government, he said, had been advised to review cases of all Preventive Security Act detenus and withdraw detention orders in appropriate cases. “Again not many PSA cases have been reviewed and thus some people continue to be in jails who otherwise might have got some leniency,” Mr. Tarigami said.
Nothing concrete had been done to review the notification of “disturbed” areas. “The withdrawal of Disturbed Areas notification in the areas where the security situation has improved would have served as an important CBM. It seems that the important issue has been put on the back burner, despite assurances by the Home Minister”.
Mr. Tarigami said the government had announced a probe into some of the killings nothing was known about that. “The government should inform the people at what stage the inquiry into civilian deaths is. The complaints about non-cooperation by police or the CRPF should be looked into and a fair and impartial probe ensured.”
He also expressed concern at the continued cycle of arrest of youth in the Valley.
Mr. Tarigami welcomed the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan. “People of Jammu and Kashmir are the biggest beneficiaries of cordial relations between the two countries; hence the people of J&K want an impetus to the ongoing dialogue processes at various levels between the two.”
The CPI(M) leader condemned the arrest of social activist Anna Hazare and the ban on his hunger strike in Delhi as highly condemnable. “This is an attack on the democratic rights of citizens to protest peacefully.”