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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The Congress party on Thursday alleged that the Vajpayee government's new measures for Jammu and Kashmir did not contain anything substantial and 'is a package to create an illusion of a fresh initiative'.
Briefing reporters, the party's chief spokesman S Jaipal Reddy referred to the high-level meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Wednesday to formulate a new strategy especially for the Jammu region to discourage terrorism.
"We question the government's (premise) that more laws can solve the problem (of the killings by militants in J&K). What is required is a focussed strategy and good governance," he asserted.
According to the spokesman, the government's J&K policy had not delivered the goods in Kashmir valley and, therefore, it could not do so in Jammu, where the terrain was difficult and tortuous.
He, however, made a spirited defence of the J&K chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah who, Reddy contended, could not be answerable for the government's shortcomings.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party's Jammu & Kashmir unit's demand for Dr Abdullah resignation was a 'diversionary tactic' to take away the blame from the Union home minister.
"Dr Abdullah cannot be a punching bag or a scapegoat. He may be the chairman of the unified command in J&K but he is an instrumentality through whom the Centre is operating," the Congress spokesman asserted.
Referring to Advani's statement in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Reddy said his party was 'disappointed because it did not show any light even at the end of a long tunnel'.
"The package and (Advani's) statement put together proves our point that the minister of home affairs and the Union home minister have run out of ideas," he said.
"The situation in J&K in terms of low-intensity conflict (with Pakistan) has almost reached a flash-point yet there is no indication of a fresh strategy," the Congress spokesman charged.
He alleged that the Union home minister, considering 'all these failings, did not deserve to preside over the ministry of home affairs'.
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