Author: Suman K Jha
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 9, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/346647.html
The Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti (SASS),
the umbrella group leading the protests in Jammu against the decision to revoke
the order transferring land to the Amarnath Shrine Board, has decided to boycott
the 18-member all-party delegation, headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil,
visiting Jammu tomorrow.
Its reason: the inclusion of National Conference's
Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti and Congress's Saifuddin Soz in the
team.
"They are part of the problem. And now
they want to work out a solution for us. This is just not acceptable,"
SASS convener Leela Karan Sharma told The Indian Express.
The 18-member all-party delegation also includes
five Union Ministers besides Patil (Saifuddin Soz, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh,
A Raja, Prithviraj Chavan and Sriprakash Jaiswal) and leaders from other parties
like Arun Jaitley (BJP), Amar Singh (SP), Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and Mohsina
Kidwai (Congress).
The samiti had earlier agreed to meet the
delegation. "We had even agreed on the time and the venue for the meeting.
The Home Commissioner had proposed the Governor's House; we insisted on the
Government Guest House and they agreed. We were to meet at 10 am, but after
we came to know about the constitution of the team, we decided not to meet
them," said Sharma.
While Sharma denied this, sources confirmed
that the samiti took the decision to boycott the team after talking to top
RSS leaders like Indresh.
Asked if he would still be going now that
that the samiti has decided to boycott the delegation, BJP leader Arun Jaitley
said: "We'll take a call in the morning." He added that his party
stood by "what they have said so far".
On the samiti's boycott call: Farooq Abdullah
said, "Why should we go out of the delegation? Who are they to dictate
terms to us. We are a part of this state."
Mehbooba, however, had a different take: "If
they are willing to talk without us, I have no problems to opt out of the
delegation."
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, however,
said that the samiti, by its boycott call, was doing no service to India:
"The National Conference and the PDP, too, are stakeholders in the peace
process in the state. By their act of boycotting the all-party delegation,
that has been constituted at the initiative of the Prime Minister, the samiti
is validating the idea of religious polarization, thus assaulting the very
idea of India. This is a result of the ongoing RSS project there," he
said.
Asked if the samiti would meet the all-party
team if the three said members were to opt out, Leela Karan Sharma said: "We
would then meet them, but we'll have to re-jig the time." The SASS has,
in the meantime, announced extension of its agitation till August 14.
