By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Terming the decision of the PDP to form a government with the BJP in the state as historic, former interlocutor MM Ansari said it is the right time for both the parties to establish secular democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.
“People’s Democratic Party should be credited for bringing BJP on board to take oath under the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir for forming the government in the state,” Ansari said here on Tuesday.
Ansari, educationist and economist, was an Information Commissioner before being elected as an interlocutor in 2010 to hold talks with all sides in Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to bring peace to the state aftermath of continuous violence in the preceding years.
While asserting his view on the mood of Kashmiri people regarding coalition government formation between BJP-PDP, he said: “People were fed up with the mis-governance and misrule and they want development. They know it well that Mufti means business and keeping his track record into view, one can easily say that people of Kashmir will witness development and progress in the days ahead.”
Instead of blowing every issue out of proportion, it is the responsibility of the media to play a positive role so that people of Kashmir who have suffered immensely will get benefitted in the coming days, Ansari said, and added: “Mufti Muhamamd Sayeed should not waste his energy over this issue and should concentrate on governance and development.”
Those who criticize the BJP for shelving the issue of Article 370, should understand that it is a permanent feature and can’t be abrogated, he added.
Urging the newly elected Chief Minister to initiate process for the release of innocent Kashmiri people languishing in the state and out-side state jails, Ansari said he is a bit disappointed why matters relating to innocent people living in different jails has not been included in the Common Minimum Programme.
“There are scores of Kashmiri people who have been languishing in jails for many years. Qasim Faktoo has been in jail over two decades and similarly there are other Kashmiri people who have been languishing in other jails in India and against whom no charges have been proven. It is high time for Mufti Muhammad Sayeed to use his good offices and bail them out.”