SRINAGAR: Describing the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as utter failure, senior National Conference leader and Member Parliament Dr Mehboob Beigh Wednesday said that people of Kashmir and particularly the National Conference were disappointed the way Prime Minister maintained silence over the important issues including autonomy.
I was expecting that the Prime Minister would make a commitment on autonomy but he didnt do it, Beight told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS adding that it was a customary visit and lacked strategy.
He said National Conference was expecting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will go public and would make some announcements relating to Kashmir issue. The reality is that this visit has let us down and he even didnt bother to talk about Working Group recommendations, he said adding that India would get nothing by buying time.
Dr Mehboob Beigh said that he had a closed door meeting with the Singh and during that meeting the Prime Minister assured us that he is making every effort to normalize relations with the Government of Pakistan.
Singh in response to my autonomy query made it clear that he cant make a commitment on the subject, Beigh said.
It would have been better for the Prime Minister of India to talk about peace and resolution of Kashmir issue in public.
For NC his (PM) visit was a disappointment. We had many expectations from him and believed that he would make a commitment about the returning of Dul Hasti Power Project to the state and appeal Hurriyat Conference to negotiating table. Everything proved wrong and it is a fact that Prime Minister failed to deliver the goods, he said. (CNS)
PM Visit A Success: Reacting to these remarks, State Congress president Prof Saif-u-Din Soz m said that Prime Minister of India never stopped Dr Mehboob Beigh or any other National Conference leader from raising autonomy issue.
It is the Congress party and the Government of India which provided platform to NC at Banihal where Omar Abdullah made a good speech about autonomy and Article 370, Soz said.
He said that Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh and Madam Sonia Gandhi were very much concerned about the development of Kashmir and they gave a broad message during their visit that Central Government would extend any possible help to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Who has stopped Dr Mehboob Beight from raising autonomy issue. We are living in a democracy and Beigh can talk about autonomy as many times as possible. Dr Beigh should not forget that it was the Congress party which provided Chief Minister Omar Abdullah a platform where from Omar Abdullah was able to speak on different issues relating to Kashmir issue particularly about autonomy, Soz said.
He said that everybody met Manmohan Singh and put forth his viewpoints without any hesitation. We are part of democracy where problems are sorted out through dialogue but to claim that PM did not make any commitments is absolutely wrong, he said and lamented that due to security reasons people faced a lot of inconvenience. (CNS)
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