- Azad visiting today, Karan Singh on Sep 1
- Chidambaram, Yechury also arriving soon
- Nitish, Lalu, Mulayam, Mayawati to send representatives
After 52 days of the ongoing summer uprising, a battery of Indian politicians will make a beeline to Kashmir to hear the grievances of the stakeholders and try to help end the current crisis.
Former Jammu Kashmir chief minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad would arrive in Srinagar on Tuesday.
Talking to Kashmir Post, State Congress chief, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said, “Azad sahab is coming to Kashmir tomorrow and will delve on the ongoing situation with a groups of eight to 10 senior party leaders.”
Mir said, earlier, Azad twice made programmes to visit Kashmir but had to cancel at the last moment after the party high command dispatched him to Uttar Pradesh to prepare ground for the assembly polls in the state next year.
Azad Tuesday’s visit to Kashmir would be in his personal capacity and the Congress high command would later decide whether to send Azad with the All Parties delegation or some other party leader on September 4.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha member and former Sadr-i-Riyasat and Governor of Jammu Kashmir, Karan Singh would arrive in Srinagar with his daughter, Jyotsna Singh on September 1, sources said.
The sources said the senior Congress leader, Singh wants to meet the unified separatist leaders, Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, and try to get their mind on the ongoing uprising besides hearing the grievances of the youth and other stakeholders.
They said pressure was being built on the State government to release Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik from their detentions and end the house arrest of Geelani so that Singh and other prominent Indian politicians get an opportunity to meet them at their respective residences.
The sources said former Union Minister and senior Congress leader, Saifuddin Soz is preparing the ground for Singh’s meeting with the separatist leaders and other civil society members.
Earlier, Singh’s statement in Rajya Sabha over Kashmir’s ongoing uprising had been taken well in Kashmir.
Singh, the son of the last ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, had said, “India needs to bite the bullet at some point in time and resolve it.”
He had hinted at restoration of pre-1953 status saying: “We say J&K is an integral part of India. Of course it is. The day my father signed the Instrument of Accession, it became an integral part of India. On October 27, 1947, I was in my room, in my house. However, please remember something more.
“My father acceded for three subjects only, which included defence, communication and foreign affairs. He signed the same with other princely states, but all others states subsequently merged. But J&K did not merge with India.”
Commenting on the status of Jammu Kashmir, Singh said, there was still an uncertainty with regard to the exact status of J&K and its relation with the Indian Union.
“Integral part doesn’t necessarily mean it will be exactly same as everything else,” he said.
Singh’s visit would also be outside the visit of the Indian politicians coming with the All Party delegation.
Singh’s visit would be an exercise undertaken by the politicians and civil society outside the government to help buy peace with the separatists, protesting youth and the victim families.
Seventy one persons have been killed and more than 8500 injured during the past 52 days of uprising in Kashmir following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, Burhan Muzaffar Wani and his two associates on July 8.
The sources said a number of other prominent Indian politicians were also planning to visit Kashmir and discuss the present situation with different stakeholders including the separatist leadership.
One of them is the former Union Home and Finance Minister and senior Congress leader, P Chidambaram, who has given an eight-point programme for handling Kashmir issue including holding dialogue with separatists and review provisions of Disturbed Areas Act.
The sources said CPI (M) General Secretary and parliamentary group leader, Sitaram Yechury is also planning to visit Kashmir and engage separatists and other stakeholders besides meeting the injured and the victim families.
Earlier this month, Yechury had condemned the killings of Kashmiri civilians at the hands of police, troops and paramilitary forces and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being indifferent toward the miseries of Kashmiris.
The sources said Bihar Chief Minister and Janta Dal (United) President, Nitish Kumar; former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal President, Lalu Prasad Yadav; former Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party President, Mulayam Singh Yadav and former UP CM and Bahujan Samaj Party President, Mayawati were also planning to send their representatives to Kashmir for engaging separatists and meeting the victim families.
