ABCharlie
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2009
- Messages
- 416
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
New Delhi, March 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have stamped his popularity across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and much of India. But the future of Jammu and Kashmir, the state's chief minister said today, may hinge on returning to an approach followed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti dubbed Vajpayee the "most popular Indian PM in Kashmir", and called on the Modi regime to join the controversial China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), breaking with its coalition partner politically and diplomatically.
Her comments, at a counter-terrorism conference organised here by the India Foundation, a think tank that has gained in prominence under the BJP government, come days after BJP chief Amit Shah called Modi "India's most popular leader since Independence".
Mehbooba's statements also dramatically challenge New Delhi's opposition to the CPEC, which passes through Azad Kashmir. Her People's Democratic Party is running the Jammu and Kashmir regime with the BJP.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited Prime Minister Modi to a mega conclave in May on his ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) connectivity initiative aimed at linking Asia, Africa and Europe through a network of ports, highways and railroads. China and Pakistan have also asked India to join the CPEC, which is a part of the OBOR.
India has consistently protested the CPEC as a violation of its sovereignty, and foreign secretary S. Jaishankar told Chinese leaders last month that Beijing would need to address those concerns for New Delhi to contemplate joining the OBOR.
But the push for India to join the project from the chief executive of the state at the heart of New Delhi's argument - Jammu and Kashmir - could undermine its diplomatic posturing with China and Pakistan, senior officials told The Telegraph.
"Why can't we be partners to that CPEC?" Mehbooba asked rhetorically in her address. "Because, after all, Jammu and Kashmir was a roadway - a gateway to Central Asia and South Asia before 1947. I heard that Pakistan has offered that we can become a part of that CPEC. Why can't we move ahead?"
Mehbooba argued that India joining the CPEC could help "change the narrative" of the country's relationship with Pakistan and China, and pleaded for a return to the vision of Vajpayee, who she described as the Indian Prime Minister who had best understood the aspirations of ordinary Kashmiris.
She spoke at a time New Delhi and the Valley are preparing for the possibility of fresh clashes along the lines of last year's violence in which over 90 civilians were killed.
"When my father (the late Mufti Mohammad Sayyed) took office in 2002, and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM, I saw there was proper harmony between the two leaderships," she said. "Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji understood the pain of the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir."
The BJP, to which Vajpayee - now 92 years old and wheel chair-bound - belongs, has in recent months only very fleetingly referred to his legacy. Modi has repeatedly mocked India's gains "over 70 years" - a period that includes the six years Vajpayee was in power.
But Mehbooba referred to Vajpayee's outreach to the Valley as the model she "hopes" Modi will adopt. "We have a Prime Minister who has the moral authority.... So, I am hopeful that he will definitely take forward the process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee," she said. "You've already used pellet guns, guns, grenades, tear gas against these young people (Kashmiri protesters). You can't go on like that."
She cited Vajpayee's "external" overtures too.
Mehbooba pointed to Vajpayee's repeated offers of friendship with Pakistan despite multiple terror attacks, including the 2001 strike on Parliament, and the 1999 Kargil war. Joining the CPEC, she suggested, may be a good way to start.
The under-construction CPEC, billed at $54 billion, is aimed at connecting Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan to Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang province. The corridor passes through a part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan since 1948.
Since the announcement of the CPEC, India has lodged multiple diplomatic protests with China, arguing that the corridor effectively legitimises Pakistan's control over the occupied territory and tilts negotiations over the region's future in favour of Islamabad.
China has responded by arguing that it was only trying to enhance regional connectivity. It has cited Modi's own emphasis on deepening regional connectivity to prod India to join the initiative.
But India has insisted China first demonstrate sensitivity to New Delhi's concerns over sovereignty if it wants it to join the May conference Xi is hosting on the OBOR.
"Since they (China) are a country who have been very sensitive to sovereignty concerns, it was for them to say how a country whose sovereignty has been violated can come on an invitation," Jaishankar said after a bilateral strategic dialogue in Beijing late February.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170316/jsp/nation/story_140891.jsp#.WMq3c9LysdU
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti dubbed Vajpayee the "most popular Indian PM in Kashmir", and called on the Modi regime to join the controversial China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), breaking with its coalition partner politically and diplomatically.
Her comments, at a counter-terrorism conference organised here by the India Foundation, a think tank that has gained in prominence under the BJP government, come days after BJP chief Amit Shah called Modi "India's most popular leader since Independence".
Mehbooba's statements also dramatically challenge New Delhi's opposition to the CPEC, which passes through Azad Kashmir. Her People's Democratic Party is running the Jammu and Kashmir regime with the BJP.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited Prime Minister Modi to a mega conclave in May on his ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) connectivity initiative aimed at linking Asia, Africa and Europe through a network of ports, highways and railroads. China and Pakistan have also asked India to join the CPEC, which is a part of the OBOR.
India has consistently protested the CPEC as a violation of its sovereignty, and foreign secretary S. Jaishankar told Chinese leaders last month that Beijing would need to address those concerns for New Delhi to contemplate joining the OBOR.
But the push for India to join the project from the chief executive of the state at the heart of New Delhi's argument - Jammu and Kashmir - could undermine its diplomatic posturing with China and Pakistan, senior officials told The Telegraph.
"Why can't we be partners to that CPEC?" Mehbooba asked rhetorically in her address. "Because, after all, Jammu and Kashmir was a roadway - a gateway to Central Asia and South Asia before 1947. I heard that Pakistan has offered that we can become a part of that CPEC. Why can't we move ahead?"
Mehbooba argued that India joining the CPEC could help "change the narrative" of the country's relationship with Pakistan and China, and pleaded for a return to the vision of Vajpayee, who she described as the Indian Prime Minister who had best understood the aspirations of ordinary Kashmiris.
She spoke at a time New Delhi and the Valley are preparing for the possibility of fresh clashes along the lines of last year's violence in which over 90 civilians were killed.
"When my father (the late Mufti Mohammad Sayyed) took office in 2002, and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM, I saw there was proper harmony between the two leaderships," she said. "Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji understood the pain of the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir."
The BJP, to which Vajpayee - now 92 years old and wheel chair-bound - belongs, has in recent months only very fleetingly referred to his legacy. Modi has repeatedly mocked India's gains "over 70 years" - a period that includes the six years Vajpayee was in power.
But Mehbooba referred to Vajpayee's outreach to the Valley as the model she "hopes" Modi will adopt. "We have a Prime Minister who has the moral authority.... So, I am hopeful that he will definitely take forward the process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee," she said. "You've already used pellet guns, guns, grenades, tear gas against these young people (Kashmiri protesters). You can't go on like that."
She cited Vajpayee's "external" overtures too.
Mehbooba pointed to Vajpayee's repeated offers of friendship with Pakistan despite multiple terror attacks, including the 2001 strike on Parliament, and the 1999 Kargil war. Joining the CPEC, she suggested, may be a good way to start.
The under-construction CPEC, billed at $54 billion, is aimed at connecting Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan to Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang province. The corridor passes through a part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan since 1948.
Since the announcement of the CPEC, India has lodged multiple diplomatic protests with China, arguing that the corridor effectively legitimises Pakistan's control over the occupied territory and tilts negotiations over the region's future in favour of Islamabad.
China has responded by arguing that it was only trying to enhance regional connectivity. It has cited Modi's own emphasis on deepening regional connectivity to prod India to join the initiative.
But India has insisted China first demonstrate sensitivity to New Delhi's concerns over sovereignty if it wants it to join the May conference Xi is hosting on the OBOR.
"Since they (China) are a country who have been very sensitive to sovereignty concerns, it was for them to say how a country whose sovereignty has been violated can come on an invitation," Jaishankar said after a bilateral strategic dialogue in Beijing late February.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170316/jsp/nation/story_140891.jsp#.WMq3c9LysdU
