Expressing dismay over the outcome of the All Party Meeting convened by the Chief Minister, MLA Langate and Chairman Awami Itehad Party (AIP) said the meeting seemed to be an attempt to appease powers in Delhi rather than a serious effort to mitigate the sufferings of the people of Kashmir.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Rasheed said though it is good that Government is announced measures like ration etc, but that was not the purpose of meeting, rather this should have been an occasion to ask Delhi to initiate a dialogue on the very Kashmir dispute. “For announcing free ration, you need not to convene an All Party Meeting; this is the mockery which is reason for increasing disillusionment of the people,” he said. Engineer Rasheed said that the issues raised by most participants of the meeting looked as if the current situation is an issue of ration and law and order.
“The outcome of the meeting makes it clear that mainstream leaders of Kashmir are confused and apologetic who made yet another attempt to appease Delhi,” he lamented adding that this a time when basic human and democratic rights of the people should be debated and not the issues of ration which otherwise are civic issues and responsibility of the Government to provide. “50 people have been killed and hundreds injured during the ongoing protest movement. These people were not asking for sadak,bijli and pani. So leaders are expected to listen to these voices and ask the GoI to initiate a process of dialogue to solve the basic dispute of Kashmir. But its unfortunate that yet again they resorted to patchwork which is not going to solve the issue,” he maintained. He said in the meeting, the leaders of the BJP, the party which keeps parroting ‘Insanyat, Jamhoryat and Kashmiryat,’ nearly abused Pakistan and portrayed Kashmiris as villains. “ This party should either publicly announce war with Kashmiris, or be true to their own words and initiate a meaningful dialogue on the dispute of Kashmir.”
Referring to the role of so-called national parties Congress and the BJP, Rasheed said these parties have been at the helm of power in Delhi but they never have been unambiguous over Kashmir. “Since 1947 these parties played politics over Kashmir to win elections and befool people of India by vain slogans of nationalism ; they should now shun arrogance and come clear by accepting the Kashmir dispute and solve it once for all,” he stressed.
