Afzal Guru’s Hanging Forced By BJP
[Editor: Mr.Omar
Abdullah is saying the same thing, what I said post hanging of Afzal
Guru. The BJP and its cohorts' habit of showing too much jingoism with
"Death Sentence" or their penchant for "Hanging the Convicts", is what,
should be condemned by sane human beings. All murders or sponsored killings of human beings, by anyone should stop]
In
an interview with ET, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
hits out against BJP for forcing the hanging of Afzal Guru, seeks
clarity on government's stance on China and asks what stops it from
withdrawing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state.
Excerpts:
How difficult was the scenario post Afzal Guru hanging? |
| Omar Abdullah In Deep Thinking, Photo: Images99.com |
It was a very difficult time for me. There still remains an undercurrent
in the state. It was a decision difficult to understand for us on a
number of counts. His name was number 28 on the list, it was bumped up
to number one. He was hanged without even the basic courtesy of
informing the family. To this day I am not satisfied with the
explanation.
You could have made some amends for not informing the family by letting them have the body, but you throw the jail manual at us. If it were so sacrosanct then you should have followed it and informed the family. Then how the subsequent executions were politicised. Veerappan gang members could get a stay after the President's rejection of their plea. Why was Afzal Guru denied the same opportunity? This remains an open wound for Kashmir. People are not agitating. This shouldn't be misconstrued as nothing will happen.
The opposition to Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the state has been leading to a stand-off. Your comments.
Yes, lifting of AFSPA has caused much back and forth. It is largely because Army has made no secret about the fact that they need AFSPA to operate effectively in the state. We say AFSPA should be lifted selectively, especially in Srinagar and surrounding areas. None of us are foolish to believe that we can lift it from the entire state. It is not a divine direction sent from above. It is a law created by man. It can be lifted.
What is the worst-case scenario? That, God forbid, something untoward would happen. Then what stops us from reintroducing it?
What is stopping the Centre from looking into your demand?
I don't know. All I am saying to them is don't be selective in your risk taking in Jammu and Kashmir. What happened in Afzal Guru's case. When you hanged him, you knew that 2010 summer was violent and you wouldn't be able to get a dead man back. The state could have erupted. But you took the risk knowing fully well anything could happen. You knew you wouldn't be able to contain it. Why aren't you taking it now? Here, you have an exit option. So take a risk.
Talking about the national political scene, what are your views on the 2014 polls being a Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi fight?
Oh, it just makes for good headlines. We have moved away from personality cult of individuals bearing something on elections. It is political parties fighting political parties. Track records fighting track records. When Congress fights the 2014 elections, obviously it would be under the leadership of the three big leaders. But it will fight on how it has delivered in the last 10 years of governance.
What will be the future political collaboration between National Conference and Congress?
We are very clear there will be no alliance with BJP. We are done with our experiments with supporting a BJP-led government. We have only two options — supporting UPA or a United Front kind of government. But there will be no truck with BJP.
Why? What happened?
It wasn't an NC alliance with BJP. It was more an alliance of Dr Farooq Abdullah with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He (Vajpayee) gave us a satisfaction which no other leader of BJP can. Who can talk about Kashmir in terms of insaniyat?
Is it because of their attitude towards J&K?
We wouldn't like to align with them. We are a J&K based party and this is obviously — about 90% — to do with their attitude towards J&K. Honestly, I don't believe that Afzal Guru would have been hanged if BJP wouldn't have made a political issue out of it. After all why so close to Kasab's hanging? Then they had a Tiranga yatra in 2011 knowing fully well how summer of 2010 had been in the state. This is not positive politics.
Does the prospect of Modi becoming the BJP's prime ministerial candidate make you uncomfortable?
I think it makes NDA allies more uncomfortable. There is an incredible aura around him. We can see he is so incredibly careful about protecting that aura. If he were such an impressive leader and administrator then he should have been able to turn Karnataka or even UP before that for BJP. In fact, he is careful about not losing this aura and that is why he is carefully choosing the states he campaigns in.
But one can say the same about Rahul Gandhi too?
That is exactly my point. Rahul Gandhi is the face of the party, but it won't be just about him in 2014.
You think his experiments within the party have some traction?
I can say he is making an effort to change things. Karnataka is an indication that things are changing. On Friday, rather than follow the usual route of 'leaving it to the high command', MLAs chose Siddharamaiah.
You think 2014 will see a UPA-III coming to power?
I really don't know. The politically correct answer here would be yes. But I don't know. All of us have taken a hammering... So I don't know. But I still think, a hunch, the odds are in favour of the UPA.
Will the elections be advanced?
I don't think so. Congress-led UPA has too many big-ticket projects to rollout. Nobody, no political party, today can stand up and say 'we are ready for elections'. Be it Mayawati or Akhilesh, who is struggling with a perception problem, or Mamata Banerjee with her chit fund scam, nobody is ready. If that were the case, it would be very easy for any political party with a double-digit strength to pull the rug from under this government, which is surviving on a slender majority.
On the recent border tensions, have you got any clarity so far about the exact ground position in Ladakh after the Chinese incursion?
After I raised this issue in Srinagar, the foreign secretary's office had asked the Resident Commissioner's office if I would like a briefing. The crisis was over. The time for such a briefing is when the crisis is unfolding, not after. You cannot blame them. After all, they have also had enough distractions of the political nature over the last couple of weeks.
The Centre has maintained that the situation was not as alarming as it was made out to be. It wasn't an armed incursion or a military onslaught...
If you get into hair splitting, yes, it wasn't an armed incursion. Sure, they weren't firing at us. But they were 19 km on the Indian side, which to me is a significant ingress. Tell me... let's assume that Pakistan were to do this, come and pitch a tent 19 km into the Indian side. What would we have done? Going by the same standards in Kargil, they never fired at us till we started evicting them from our territory. So Kargil wasn't a military onslaught?
You are saying we are not aggressive enough with China?
I would not want to use that term. I am just trying to make a point that if you have two neighbours, why is it that we look at them differently? The Chinese came and stayed. On what terms have they gone back? The country doesn't know. There needs to be clarity on that. Nobody knows. Tell us what happened.
Is India always diffident on the negotiating table?
I wouldn't know as I have never been a part of these talks. But the point I want to make is that there has to be an element of reciprocity in diplomacy. Why are we happy to accept one China when they don't accept one India?
You could have made some amends for not informing the family by letting them have the body, but you throw the jail manual at us. If it were so sacrosanct then you should have followed it and informed the family. Then how the subsequent executions were politicised. Veerappan gang members could get a stay after the President's rejection of their plea. Why was Afzal Guru denied the same opportunity? This remains an open wound for Kashmir. People are not agitating. This shouldn't be misconstrued as nothing will happen.
The opposition to Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the state has been leading to a stand-off. Your comments.
Yes, lifting of AFSPA has caused much back and forth. It is largely because Army has made no secret about the fact that they need AFSPA to operate effectively in the state. We say AFSPA should be lifted selectively, especially in Srinagar and surrounding areas. None of us are foolish to believe that we can lift it from the entire state. It is not a divine direction sent from above. It is a law created by man. It can be lifted.
What is the worst-case scenario? That, God forbid, something untoward would happen. Then what stops us from reintroducing it?
What is stopping the Centre from looking into your demand?
I don't know. All I am saying to them is don't be selective in your risk taking in Jammu and Kashmir. What happened in Afzal Guru's case. When you hanged him, you knew that 2010 summer was violent and you wouldn't be able to get a dead man back. The state could have erupted. But you took the risk knowing fully well anything could happen. You knew you wouldn't be able to contain it. Why aren't you taking it now? Here, you have an exit option. So take a risk.
Talking about the national political scene, what are your views on the 2014 polls being a Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi fight?
Oh, it just makes for good headlines. We have moved away from personality cult of individuals bearing something on elections. It is political parties fighting political parties. Track records fighting track records. When Congress fights the 2014 elections, obviously it would be under the leadership of the three big leaders. But it will fight on how it has delivered in the last 10 years of governance.
What will be the future political collaboration between National Conference and Congress?
We are very clear there will be no alliance with BJP. We are done with our experiments with supporting a BJP-led government. We have only two options — supporting UPA or a United Front kind of government. But there will be no truck with BJP.
Why? What happened?
It wasn't an NC alliance with BJP. It was more an alliance of Dr Farooq Abdullah with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He (Vajpayee) gave us a satisfaction which no other leader of BJP can. Who can talk about Kashmir in terms of insaniyat?
Is it because of their attitude towards J&K?
We wouldn't like to align with them. We are a J&K based party and this is obviously — about 90% — to do with their attitude towards J&K. Honestly, I don't believe that Afzal Guru would have been hanged if BJP wouldn't have made a political issue out of it. After all why so close to Kasab's hanging? Then they had a Tiranga yatra in 2011 knowing fully well how summer of 2010 had been in the state. This is not positive politics.
Does the prospect of Modi becoming the BJP's prime ministerial candidate make you uncomfortable?
I think it makes NDA allies more uncomfortable. There is an incredible aura around him. We can see he is so incredibly careful about protecting that aura. If he were such an impressive leader and administrator then he should have been able to turn Karnataka or even UP before that for BJP. In fact, he is careful about not losing this aura and that is why he is carefully choosing the states he campaigns in.
But one can say the same about Rahul Gandhi too?
That is exactly my point. Rahul Gandhi is the face of the party, but it won't be just about him in 2014.
You think his experiments within the party have some traction?
I can say he is making an effort to change things. Karnataka is an indication that things are changing. On Friday, rather than follow the usual route of 'leaving it to the high command', MLAs chose Siddharamaiah.
You think 2014 will see a UPA-III coming to power?
I really don't know. The politically correct answer here would be yes. But I don't know. All of us have taken a hammering... So I don't know. But I still think, a hunch, the odds are in favour of the UPA.
Will the elections be advanced?
I don't think so. Congress-led UPA has too many big-ticket projects to rollout. Nobody, no political party, today can stand up and say 'we are ready for elections'. Be it Mayawati or Akhilesh, who is struggling with a perception problem, or Mamata Banerjee with her chit fund scam, nobody is ready. If that were the case, it would be very easy for any political party with a double-digit strength to pull the rug from under this government, which is surviving on a slender majority.
On the recent border tensions, have you got any clarity so far about the exact ground position in Ladakh after the Chinese incursion?
After I raised this issue in Srinagar, the foreign secretary's office had asked the Resident Commissioner's office if I would like a briefing. The crisis was over. The time for such a briefing is when the crisis is unfolding, not after. You cannot blame them. After all, they have also had enough distractions of the political nature over the last couple of weeks.
The Centre has maintained that the situation was not as alarming as it was made out to be. It wasn't an armed incursion or a military onslaught...
If you get into hair splitting, yes, it wasn't an armed incursion. Sure, they weren't firing at us. But they were 19 km on the Indian side, which to me is a significant ingress. Tell me... let's assume that Pakistan were to do this, come and pitch a tent 19 km into the Indian side. What would we have done? Going by the same standards in Kargil, they never fired at us till we started evicting them from our territory. So Kargil wasn't a military onslaught?
You are saying we are not aggressive enough with China?
I would not want to use that term. I am just trying to make a point that if you have two neighbours, why is it that we look at them differently? The Chinese came and stayed. On what terms have they gone back? The country doesn't know. There needs to be clarity on that. Nobody knows. Tell us what happened.
Is India always diffident on the negotiating table?
I wouldn't know as I have never been a part of these talks. But the point I want to make is that there has to be an element of reciprocity in diplomacy. Why are we happy to accept one China when they don't accept one India?
Courtesy: The Economic Times
