Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed said on Friday that though reconciliation with Pakistan was his government’s agenda, he cannot force it on the BJP government at the Centre.
Breaking his silence after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government would walk the path on Kashmir shown by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee but skipped any mention of Pakistan and separatists, Mr Sayeed said, “Reconciliation with Pakistan is my government’s agenda but we cannot force it on the Union government.”
He added, “I don’t know why the Prime Minister skipped Pakistan issue from his speech even though in our personal chat I had apprised him about peculiarity of Pakistan and its effects in Kashmir and also about Vajpayeeji’s initiatives of offering a hand of friendship to the neighbouring country (while speaking at the same venue in 2003).”
Mr Modi had, in fact, virtually snubbed the chief minister by asserting “I need nobody’s advise on Kashmir in the world or analysis from anyone in this world on Kashmir.”
Earlier, Mr Mufti had in his brief speech at the November 7 rally at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium said, “If Bharat wants to become big power in the world, if it wants to grow bigger than China, then India has to take along its younger brother (Pakistan) with it. We want that a hand of friendship should be extended with Pakistan.”
The chief minister, when asked about it at a press conference in Jammu on Friday, said, “Modiji is not under any pressure to talk about Pakistan. In the end, it is the Prime Minister’s own choice whether to touch any subject or not. I’m not a dictator who will dictate all things to him.” He also said, “I met the Prime Minister in private and impressed upon him that it will be good to talk to Pakistan the way Atal Behari Vajpayee did. But he is the Prime Minister of the country.”
He, however, reiterated that reconciliation with Pakistan was the only option for lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir. “But there is no option except reconciliation. I’ve been insisting on that. It (reconciliation with Pakistan) is a process. It is not necessary that the Prime Minister will accept everything like this as of now,” he said
