SRINAGAR: Opposition National Conference (NC) today expressed "shock and disappointment" over which it called the "conspicuous omission" of Jammu and Kashmir-centric peace initiatives in the political resolution passed at the BJP national executive in New Delhi earlier this week.
It was surprising to see no mention of the positive talk on J&K by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the resolution, NC chief spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said.
A week back Home Minister Singh had said that the Centre was moving forward towards resolving the problems in Jammu and Kashmir, the NC spokesperson said.
We were looking forward for the BJP executive to endorse this and also the PM's message on August 15 from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he added.
"Unfortunately that didn't happen," Mehdi said reiterating his party's stand that a dialogue was the only way forward for addressing the political issues of J&K.
Referring to the BJP's political resolution, he said the silence on Prime Minister's assurance suggested that the statement on resolving the issues of J&K in Modi's Independence Day speech was just rhetoric.
"It seems now that what he said was just rhetoric and there was no conviction. The resolution clearly points towards BJP's aggressive approach in handling the state and its affairs. This, to say the least, is a complete U-turn on J&K," he said.
Mehdi said there was "little to no mention" of five C's -- compassion, communication, co-existence,
confidence-building and consistency -- that the Union home minister talked about.
"This inevitably will add to the PDP-BJP government's continuous failure in governing the state and will go a long way in increasing the (feeling of) alienation among the people of the state. The chaos that we see around now is in fact a physical manifestation of such tactics employed by the BJP and its ally PDP," he said.
Mehdi, who is the MLA from Budgam, said that every single promise made by the PDP and BJP in the 'Agenda of the Alliance' had been compromised with for the sake of power.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on his recent visit to Srinagar was very forthcoming on dialogue, he said. He even went to the extent of offering an unconditional dialogue with
all stakeholders, Mehdi said.
"This resolution is entirely opposite to what the BJP leaders have been saying lately on Kashmir and has therefore reinforced BJP's hardened stance on J&K where they continue to look at the state from the prism of security," he said.
Attacking the PDP, he said the Mehbooba Mufti-led party was maintaining a "shameful silence" on the developments.
"Why is Mufti continuing in the CM s chair when all her promises to people continue to be rejected in such a manner by her own alliance partner?" he asked.
Mehdi said the National Conference will continue to espouse the path of dialogue and reconciliation wherein all the stakeholders need to sit together and try to evolve a consensus that would "guarantee the rights and dignity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir".