Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Terming the situation in Jammu
and Kashmir as "alarming", BJP leader L K Advani today said
the state administration had "completely collapsed" and the
UPA government was about to "capitulate" before Pakistan-
supported secessionists.
On the eve of the crucial all-party meeting convened by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the situation in
violence-hit Kashmir, Advani opposed any dilution of the
controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or
withdrawal of troops, saying it would mean "surrendering
before Islamabad`s strategy of breaking India`s unity".
Attacking both the state and Central governments, he said
"the mess in Kashmir" was not the making of only the Omar
Abdullah government but the UPA government is also "totally
clueless and spineless."
Addressing a BJP workshop here, Advani said, "Each
passing day strengthens our apprehension that the UPA
government is about to capitulate before Pakistan-supported
secessionists."
"There is no government worth the name in Jammu and Kashmir. It has completely collapsed, ceding the ground to secessionists. However, the mess in Kashmir is not the making of only the government in Srinagar. In New Delhi, the UPA government is totally clueless and spineless," he said.
The BJP leader said there is talk of a "political
solution" to the Kashmir issue.
"Instead of giving a fitting reply to the secessionists,
the government has been demonising the security forces. There
is continuing talk of diluting the AFSPA, and withdrawal of
the forces! This is nothing but a surrender before Islamabad`s
strategy of breaking India’s post-1947 unity," he said.
"This is what the military rulers of Pakistan have been dreaming of ever since their defeat in Bangladesh`s War of Liberation in 1971. It is a shameful irony that if one Congress prime minister was responsible for India`s historic victory in that war, another Congress set up is working towards India`s surrender to Pakistan`s proxy war on India in Kashmir," Advani said.
Referring to demands of granting "maximum autonomy" to Kashmir, he said that far from repealing Article 370, which grants special status to the state, the UPA government "looks all set to repeal years and decades of our collective gains in Kashmir, all because of its lack of will, vision, commitment and competence".
He said the BJP and its earlier form Bharatiya Jan Sangh had waged a battle for extending many of the central government`s powers over Jammu & Kashmir since 1953.
He said that Jawaharlal Nehru had said in parliament that Article 370 was "a purely temporary provision", but the UPA government was "bending over backwards to placate the secessionists".
Pointing out that the Vajpayee government had rejected the "autonomy resolution" adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in June 2000, Advani said the party was in favour of giving greater powers to all states but the process of Kashmir`s integration cannot be reversed in the name of autonomy.
"I would like to warn the UPA government that if they decide to bow before the secessionists` designs in J&K, the country will not pardon them," Advani said.
-Agencies inputs
