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| India-Pakistan |
| Agitators, separatists not the same: Advani |
| 2008-08-15 |
| NEW DELHI: Charging PM Manmohan Singh with lacking "seriousness" in tackling the Amarnath land-for-pilgrims issue, Leader of Opposition L K Advani has said that protests organised by Valley separatists could not be equated with "nationalist" sentiments prevailing in Jammu. The BJP leader has written to the PM pointing out his "deep disappointment" with regard to transfer of land to the Amarnath shrine board and that in the face of violence in Jammu & Kashmir, the government seemed "completely out of its depth" in dealing with the issue. Advani has said that the people of Jammu have suffered "gross discrimination" in several matters like an incorrect census, deferment of delimitation, disbursal of funds and development of the region. Pointing what he felt was a clear bias, he said that Jammu was told that giving it a fair deal with hurt the Valley's psyche. Posting the current troubles in the state as essentially "nationalists versus separatists", Advani has argued that there can be no equivalence in the situations prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir. "The problem today in J&K is not Hindu versus Muslim nor even Jammu versus Kashmir," he has written, pitching the BJP's position that going back on the land allocation was equal to "appeasing" separatists led by Hurriyat and PDP. Making a case for the demands of the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti being met substantively, Advani said that the J&K shri Amarnathji shrine Act which defines the duties of the board be adhered to. "It is the duty of the board to provide facilities for performance of worship by pilgrims, to undertake construction of buildings for accommodation of pilgrims, to provide sanitation facilities...It is the duty of the state to enable the board to become effective in order to discharge its duties in an effective manner," the letter states. |
| Posted by:john frum |