“Peace not at the cost of national interest” Advani From Khajuria S. Kant in Jammu

?Article 370 real cause of Kashmir problem?
?Peace not at the cost of national interest??Advani
From Khajuria S. Kant in Jammu

Bharatiya Janata Party president, L.K. Advani ruled out any compromise over national interests while promoting the ongoing peace process. Addressing the rally organised at Lakhanpur?the gateway to J&K?to observe Balidan Diwas of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the erstwhile Jana Sangh on June 23, he said that the BJP was not averse to the peace process but not at the cost of national interests. At the same time he lashed out at the Hurriyat Conference and Pakistan for their double talk.

He said that on the one hand they were killing innocent people in Kashmir and talking of peace on the other. He warned the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government against ignoring Jammu, Ladakh and displaced Kashmir Pundits in the on-going dialogue process when solving the vexed Kashmir problem.

?The Centre should not give much importance to the Hurriyat Conference as it does not represent the entire Jammu & Kashmir. There is a large chunk of the population which is not satisfied with the secessionist ideology of the Hurriyat Conference,? remarked Shri Advani, while addressing the rally. He warned that ignoring this large chunk of population in the dialogue process to solve the Kashmir problem would prove to be disastrous.

Advani said, ?When we initiated the dialogue with the Hurriyat leaders, we talked frankly. They were convinced that our intentions were clear.? He said Vajpayee'sKashmir policy is explicit that there should be no compromise over terrorism. Pointing towards his recent Pakistan visit, the former Deputy Prime Minister said that he had taken up the issue of terrorism with President Pervez Musharraf. ?I told him that peace cannot be achieved till the terror infrastructure was intact in Pakistan. I also told Musharraf that terrorism was like the mythological demon Bhasma-sura, as those creating and supporting it also face destruction,? he added. Without referring to anyone, he said there were people who had created and supported terrorism in Punjab and Tamil Nadu and they paid the price for it. ?And what happened to them, everybody is aware of it,? he added.

?When we initiated the dialogue with the Hurriyat leaders, we talked frankly. They were convinced that our intentions were clear.?

Targetting Nehru for his Kashmir policy, he said while the Instrument of Accession was uniform for all the states, Nehru introduced Article 370, envisaging a separate Constitution, president and flag for J&K. He said that at that stage, the Congress party had opposed the move, so Nehru had deputed Gopalaswami Iyengar to brief and convince the Congressmen. But Iyengar failed and sought Patel'shelp in sorting out the issue. The second blunder, he said, was the declaration of ceasefire when the Indian army was advancing beyond Uri. Despite opposition from the Union Home Minister Vallabh Bhai Patel and Defence Minister S. Baldev Singh, Nehru went ahead to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.

The state BJP president of J&K Nirmal Singh complained that as separatist tendencies were being promoted in the name of the peace process, the process has suffered a drift and needs to be put on the right track. He criticised the government policy, saying that where a large number of educated youth were unemployed, the surrendered terrorists were being given Rs 2,000 a month.

The former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Shanta Kumar said: ?Dr Mookerjee made a great sacrifice for the sake of the integrity of the nation. At present the nation is faced with a crisis and we must be ready to make sacrifices.?

Another former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal said that Dr Mookerjee had left a deep impact on the nation. By making a sacrifice for the nation, he proved that as a leader he was the first and foremost amongst all. He also spelt out the danger posed to national security.

Prof. Lakshmi Kanta Chawla said that the registration tax on the Amarnath yatra was like jazia which should be abolished. ?While there is no tax for Badrinath and other pilgrim centres, why should there be tax on the Amarnath yatra??

General secretary of BJP Arun Jaitely, former Rajasthan Governor and ex-Chief Minister of Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana, former cricketer and Lok Sabha Member from Amritsar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Union Minister, Rajiv Partap Singh Rudy and Prof. Chaman Lal were among the prominent leaders who addressed the rally which was jointly organised by the J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab units of BJP.

Martyred for a cause

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee died on June 23, in Kashmir Valley after courting arrest at Lakhanpur, following a protest against the permit system then in vogue for entry and exit from J&K state. He had come to support the agitation launched by the Praja Parishad demanding ek vidhan, ek pradhan, ek nishan in 1953. The government led by the then Prime Minister of J&K, Sheikh Abdullah had unleashed a reign of terror to crush the agitation. Dr Mookerjee, the then president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, accompanied by N.C. Chatterji of Hindu Mahasabha also was arrested at Lakhanpur, the entry point of the state. Dr Mookerjee died at Srinagar on June 23, 1953. The Praja Parishad, later called Jana Sangh and now the BJP, observes the fortnight, from June 23 to July 7 to remember him.