Author: Our Political Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: August 30, 2002
Prime Minister AB Vajpayee today
refused to give an audience to Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah,
close on the heels of a similar rebuff from deputy PM LK Advani.
The denial of an appointment to
Mr Shah, the J&K Democratic Freedom Party leader, who is in the Capital
to hold second round of talks with the Kashmir Committee, is only in keeping
with the government's approach that it would talk to only those Kashmiri
leaders who prove their representative character by getting elected in
the coming Assembly polls.
That the government would enter
into a dialogue with only the elected representatives of J&K was said
by none other than Mr Vajpayee during his I-Day speech.
Disappointed with the PM's refusal
to meet him, Mr Shah today reiterated that there was no question of his
outfit participating in the coming J&K election. He had earlier indicated
that if Mr Vajpayee held talks with him, he would consider contesting the
polls to prove his representative character.
Mr Shah is now left with only the
Kashmir Committee to talk to. He and eight other JKDFP leaders are meeting
the panel headed by Ram Jethmalani for the second round of talks this evening.
The Kashmir Committee will also meet the Hurriyat soon. However, the government
has distanced itself from the Kashmir panel's initiative after realising
that it was the latter's 'independent' character that made all the difference
in getting 'difficult' parties like the Hurriyat to the negotiating table.
