J&K coalition tearing at seams, PM starts reaching out to Mufti

The PDP’s mind is apparently made, with the party’s political affairs committee set to hold a meeting on March 25 where it may decide to snap ties with the Congress. The Azad-led government, however, may not face an immediate crisis as the opposition National Conference (NC) is expected to abstain in case the PDP pushes for a vote of no-confidence in the Assembly.

The Prime Minister had earlier written to Mufti declining the demand for demilitarisation, saying that the situation in the state was not conducive for troop withdrawal at this juncture. However, having built up demilitarisation into its core political plank and with Assembly elections just 18 months away, the PDP was left with few options.

Mufti confirmed to The Indian Express that he had got a call from the PM, and that he would be heading for Delhi in a day or two. “I had written to the Prime Minister on several issues like demilitarisation and withdrawal of laws like the Disturbed Areas Act and others, and he wrote back. The letter was good, but the operative part was a no to our genuine demands, saying that the government will review the situation after the summer,” he said.

The PDP supremo added that his party’s demands were part of the peace process and confidence building measures in Kashmir, and are in sync with the prevailing security and political situation on the ground. “Hum kab tak fauj ke balbooote par rahenge (How long will we remain dependent on the Army)? There is an urgent need to put faith in democratic institutions and strengthen them,” he said.

Sources reveal that the PDP has decided to first withdraw its ministers from the Azad cabinet, followed by removal of support to the government.

While the NC may not let the Azad government fall, this is not likely to translate into actual support for the Azad government. The single largest party in the Assembly, the NC is hardly likely to risk a political backlash before the elections.

The tacit NC support might allow the Azad government to run as a minority government, but with a major dent to its authority, especially as it would be the first ever J-K government since the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah accord to not include any Kashmir-based political party.

Mufti said the situation was conducive for a troop withdrawal. “We had 77 per cent voting in Rafiabad by-elections. People are coming out… they are participating in the democratic process and it needs to translate itself on the ground as well. Srinagar city is functioning without being under the control of the Army… the security of Srinagar is successfully taken care of by the police and CRPF. Why not the rest of Kashmir? There is a need to change this mindset that nothing will work without troops. This has not helped us since 1989.”

Mail the author at muzamiljaleel@yahoo.com/ muzamil.jaleel@expressindia.com

*A uniformed cover up?

*Man who held grave truths

*We have CD showing militants torturing villagers: J&K police

*Mufti’s J-K plan for UN: More power to state govt, free economic zone

*Separatists want Kashmiris to return

*J-K cell cos start SIM re-verification

*An endless saga of search for information on dead

*‘If dead, tell us where they are’

*Rogue cops knew: Not many questions asked if ‘foreign’ militant shot

*Another exhumation, and a shocking tale of deception

*’How can I not recognise my son?’

*Azad orders probe into Padroo’s killing

*J&K police unearth another fake encounter, probe arms racket in their own ranks

*‘Rs 20,000 if you bring back my son’

*J&K cops under scanner for killing three in ‘encounters’

*Hawks a-flutter as dove Mirwaiz engages most-wanted Zargar

*Days after he called for end to violence, Mirwaiz meets Lashkar, Jaish, Al-Umar top guns

*Azad’s report card: but where’s the politics?

*Mufti’s J-K plan for UN: More power to state govt, free economic zone

*Rehab eludes quake-hit Kashmir

*Separatists want Kashmiris to return

*‘If you are a Kashmiri, you are always guilty till proven innocent’

*In Srinagar, a wait for answers

*Signposts of a 7.6 blow

*On LoC in Tangdhar

*’See, what they have done to my son’

*A classmate recalls: Afzal, the school topper, to Death Row

*Before PM-Gen meet, Azad floats Ramzan ceasefire balloon

*A very Beig problem

*J&K: PDP tells Azad fire our man, your No 2

*Kalam chalks out Mission J-K to put an end to terrorism

*No LeT up

*Have you seen this man?

*Reality hits home

*Kolkata tourist identified 5 bodies, when they showed him the sixth, he screamed: This is my wife, this is my Prabha

*Musician’s ‘accidental’ killing raises Srinagar’s anger to crescendo

*Caught between Lashkar, Army, villagers pay with their homes

*2 more political bigwigs on CBI radar in sex abuse case

*Cong leader &ex-Minister among first 2 politicians in sex abuse net

*Behind ice lies J&K Govt-Governor chill

*Office-of-profit: Sword hangs over four Congress MLAs in J-K

*First ‘big fish’ in net: BSF DIG held by CBI, identified by abuse victim

*Dal attack: Cops now probe ‘vested interest’ angle

*Fears of a missile attack shut down Srinagar when the PM came visiting

*PM calls for Army and civilian reforms in Valley

*Roundtable too crowded for us: Hurriyat

*For own survival, J-K govt hushed up sex scandal two years ago

*’We didn’t go with list, talked larger issues’

*Hurriyat sits down with PM, wants specifics to take home

*Demand for development, peace behind record vote

*Justice buried, exhumed, buried again: it’s been a six-year wait

*CBI probe ordered into Srinagar sex scandal

*In Srinagar sex abuse scandal net: 13 police, security officers, two top politicians, 43 girls

*’They didn’t even let us cry’

*‘Is this the peace process? Is this the democracy?’

*’I feel I came out of the mouth of death’

*J&K on the verge of disintegration

*In Kashmir, Army chief sends word down the line: no custody death

*High drama in Srinagar: Police versus Army

*POLITICS OF GUN, PART I: Bullet-proof ‘monks’

*POLITICS OF GUN, PART II: Squandering their vote

*Arrested militants were under watch for long, say J-K police

*J-K cops sound alarm: some politicians are acting as ears, eyes of militants

*In police net: PDP man behind suicide attack bid on Mufti

*Terror break: 2 J&K politicians on the run; IISc & Lashkar link

*Season’s Greetings

*Fidayeen

*’These are tragic times, no time to say goodbyes’

*Their final battle for survival

*Land of No Return?

*Politics per square foot

*Mohsin’s last day at my School

*’I could smell the pain’