By IANS,
New Delhi : Two days ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Kashmir Valley, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday asked him to clarify his policy on Kashmir as it was a “question of sovereignty”.
“The prime minister appears too vague about his Kashmir plans. He should make it clear as it is a question of our sovereignty. There is a parliament resolution about Kashmir,” Arun Jaitley, BJP’s leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, told IANS.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in Srinagar last fortnight that the central government was working “on quiet diplomacy” in Kashmir.
On Sunday, Manmohan Singh said he favoured “practical, pragmatic solutions” to the Kashmir problem and a dialogue with the separatist Hurriyat Conference.
The prime minister, who is visiting Kashmir Wednesday, said he was not going there to “start negotiations or to engage in negotiations myself”.
“I have always maintained that it is our sincere desire to engage all sections of political opinion in Jammu and Kashmir to find practical, pragmatic solutions to the problems facing the state.”
The prime minister is due to open 12-km railway line connecting Anantnag and Qazigund in the valley Oct 18. The trip was postponed due to other preoccupations of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.