People's Democracy

‘Evolve Commonalities to Resolve Kashmir Issue’

URGING for evolving commonalities so as to find an amicable solution to the Kashmir imbroglio, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has asked the state leaders, irrespective of their political ideology, to convince both India and Pakistan to resolve the tangle once and for all.

Addressing a rally at Kulgam in south Kashmir on May 12, the CPI(M)’s Jammu & Kashmir state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Targami said the mainstream as well as separatist leadership needs to develop consensus by converging at a common formula and convince both India and Pakistan for a lasting solution of the issue. Divergent viewpoints have so far yielded nothing except bringing miseries and hardships to people, he observed.

Earlier, shouting slogans against unemployment, shortage of essential commodities, erratic power supply and on other public issues, thousands of CPI(M) activists marched through the streets of Kulgam town. The rally was presided over by veteran kisan Leader Abdul Hamid Wani.

Tarigami highlighted the need for consolidating the internal confidence building measures (CBMs) and liberalising the trade and travel regime across the line of control (LoC). “It is imperative to universalise the scope of these vital CBMs by putting in place communication and banking facilities and allowing free cultural, sports and educational exchange programmes across the two divided parts of the state,” he said.

Tarigami said India and Pakistan should share the responsibility and initiate a visionary and credible peace process to put an end to the human tragedy in the state. However, he regretted that both the countries have so far viewed the issue from a territorial angle though it transcends territorial dimensions.

Welcoming the ongoing panchayat polls in the state on non-party basis, Tarigami urged the government to fully empower these institutions of local governance. For this purpose, the Panchayat Raj Act should be amended to democratise and strengthening these grassroots level institutions, he said.

The CPI(M) leader also demanded that the anti-corruption institutions must be made vibrant and a chairman of the state Accountability Commission appointed. He said it is imperative to strengthen such institutions in order to lend some credibility to the oft-repeated phrases of war against corruption.

Tarigami demanded availability of agricultural inputs for the farmers at their doorsteps, with focus on fertilisers and pesticides.

He cautioned that continuation of neglect of farmers cannot be allowed as they constitute 70 per cent of the state’s population. He also sought compensation to those horticulturists whose orchards have experienced damages due to incessant rains, and rued that the crop insurance scheme has not picked up in the state.

Addressing the rally, Abdul Hamid Wani highlighted the problems being faced by the peasants in Jammu & Kashmir.