NEW DELHI, 28 October — Senior Kashmiri leader and president Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Mufti Muhammad Sayeed yesterday vowed to release political prisoners and repeal a tough anti-terror law in his state as he urged the central government to begin wide-ranging talks to resolve the Kashmir problem.
Sayeed, who will head a coalition government of his PDP and the Congress party, said the two groups were committed to healing the "physical, psychological and emotional wounds" inflicted by the dragging separatist campaign that has claimed thousands of lives in Kashmir since 1989.
Unveiling the common minimum program of governance drawn up by the coalition partners and other groups supporting them, Sayeed said the much-reviled Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) would be withdrawn from Kashmir. "We will free political prisoners and review the cases of all those detained under the POTA," he told a news conference that he addressed here along with senior Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manmohan Singh. "Those who have (been arrested but have) no charges against them will be screened and released." Separatist leader Ali Shah Geelani of the Jamaat-e-Islami is among the Kashmiri leaders detained under POTA, which was implemented in the state by the National Conference government.
The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, an anti-insurgency force accused of serious human rights violations, would be "assimilated or relocated within the regular police establishment," Sayeed said.
The steps announced by Sayeed were largely in keeping with promises made by the PDP during its election campaign.
Under a power-sharing arrangement forged by Sayeed and Congress President Sonia Gandhi Saturday, the PDP will head the government for the first half of its six-year term. The two parties have 36 seats between them in the 87-member assembly.
The common minimum program also urged the central government to hold "wide-ranging consultations and dialogue, without conditions, with the members of the legislature and other segments of public opinion" in Jammu and Kashmºir to evolve a broad-based consensus on restoring peace in the strategic border state.
One of the seven leaders of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Abbas Ansari, hailed the peace package. "I welcome the announcement that the coalition will screen political detainees and release those who are not involved in any crime," said Ansari. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had said before the Kashmir polls that New Delhi would only talk to the elected representatives.
While assuring New Delhi that the coalition would cooperate in its efforts to combat "cross-border militancy originating from Pakistan", Sayeed evaded questions on the PDP’s earlier demand that the central government should resume the dialogue with Islamabad. "This is a matter to be worked out by the governments of India and Pakistan," he said.
Meanwhile, police in Kashmir have arrested several separatists to prevent them staging protests marking the 55th anniversary of the deployment of Indian troops in the disputed region.
