Tightrope walk: Mufti takes 1st step with caution

He said he didn’t approve of a ‘‘unilateral Ramzan ceasefire’’ by the Centre unless the other side reciprocated it. Asked if he would recommend such a step to the Centre, Mufti said: ‘‘I have not given it a thought.’’

On the release of jailed Hurriyat leaders, he said this would be done gradually. When his attention was drawn to the criticism by the Opposition, Mufti said: ‘‘Were they (Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Javed Mir and Yasin Malik) not released earlier?’’

He said that these leaders were not ‘‘holding any guns,’’ and at the most, would come out on the streets to protest. ‘‘We live in a democracy. We will listen to them and present our viewpoint before them,’’ he said.

‘‘I have told everybody that it is a golden chance for the return of peace to the Valley,’’ Mufti said, adding: ‘‘We should not allow our party interests to dominate the national interest.’’ Asked about the resumption of Indo-Pak talks, the Chief Minister said: ‘‘I can talk only about my state and the nation. We will urge the Centre to hold a dialogue with the representative state government and other sections of the people for permanent peace in the Valley.’’

Mufti said that before leaving for the Asean summit, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had, in a telephone conversation, assured him of all help.

On the issue of accountability, Mufti said that his government was against any ‘‘witch-hunt’’ but it would try to find out where Central funds for various schemes like the Rajiv Rozgar Yojna or the Indira Awas Yojna had gone.

Earlier, as Mufti left his official residence for the civil secretariat this morning, he was not greeted, as has been the norm, by closed shops and deserted roads. Instead, welcome gates, banners and buntings adorned the route.

Even at the civil secretariat, the difference was clearly visible, with tight security bandobast having given way to a large number of Congress and PDP activists, who had entered the premises to welcome Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma. The secretariat employees also gathered at the main entrance to welcome both. Nearly 100 Jammu State Morcha activists courted arrests in protest against the the PDP-led coalition government, saying it was anti-Jammu. These protestors reached Shalimar Chowk without any resistance from police—a hint that political opposition was also welcome in the new regime.

Saying that governance was topmost on his priority list, Mufti said: ‘‘Ab kathni ko karni mein tabdil karne ka waqt aa gaya hai (the time has come to translate words into action.)’’