In yet another flip-flop on the J-K peace process, Home Minister Shivraj Patil cancelled his three-day visit to the state, scheduled for October 23. This is the second time he has put off his visit to the state after scheduling it for mid-September.Patil may come under fire tomorrow when Left leaders raise crucial issues including Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east in their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.Though the Home Ministry has officially given no reason for cancellation of the trip, sources said Patil wanted to be in town when Myanmar head of state Than Shwe comes visiting on October 25. ‘‘Patil wants to meet Shwe to discuss operations with him against North-east insurgents,’’ said an official.Moreover, Patil did not want to visit the state before the Prime Minister, who is likely to make a trip this month and announce an economic package. Sources said now, the Home Minister would probably visit the state in November. However, whatever the reason for Patil cancelling his trip, sources said this does not augur well for the peace process. Patil has been awaiting the Hurriyat Conference’s response since June to resume the dialogue.The Left is likely to bring up the issues at the meeting, coming more than a month after it decided to bring up political issues as well. After their own preparatory meeting, CPI general secretary A.B.Bardhan stepped out of A.K.Gopalan Bhavan and said FDI was not on the agenda. ‘‘This time we have prioritised items and our focus will be on political issues.’’ This time, the Left has its reason to avoid economic issues. Their notes on FDI has not yet been answered by the UPA Government, especially Finance Minister P.Chidambaram. Without the UPA conveying its opinion on the Left views on these contentious issues, no discussion can take place. But Bardhan’s observation that the government’s ‘‘policy on J-K and the North-east appeared to be unclear’’ spelt strong criticism that had been kept ready for Patil’s handling of these areas of conflict. Bardhan said: ‘‘We want to understand where the J-K talks stand after the Prime Minister’s meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’’.On the North-east, Bardhan said: ‘‘We would like to know why terrorist acts there have been on the rise and find out more about how Myanmar and Bangladesh have become safe havens for these groups.’’
