Prakash Karat meets PM on Kashmir, seeks maximum autonomy

File photo of Prakash Karat.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said that a solution to the problem in Jammu and Kashmir could be found only by recognising the special status of the State and assuring the Kashmiri people of their identity.

"This requires a new political framework in which the bedrock is maximum autonomy," he said at the meeting at which he apprised the Prime Minister of the serious situation in Kashmir and suggested steps that needed to be taken immediately.

The CPI(M) leader urged the Prime Minister to take a bold initiative for a political dialogue with all sections of the State without any pre-conditions.

Mr Karat, who had visited Srinagar recently and held discussions with a wide section of people there, submitted a letter to the Prime Minister containing his views.

The CPI(M) leader said that, given the fact that 66 young men and women had lost their lives due to police firing from June 11, it was imperative that the approach of resorting to police firing to control the stone-pelting crowds should be stopped forthwith. There has to be a distinction between dealing with stone-pelting youth and tackling militants resorting to terrorist violence, he felt.

He said there were a large number of injured people in hospitals who should be adequately compensated. He also wanted rehabilitation measures to be taken for those with permanent disabilities.

Mr Karat said juvenile prisoners should not be kept in jail and all those youth who had no serious charges against them should be released.

He suggested that Srinagar and other urban centres should be taken out of the purview of the Disturbed Areas Act, a move which will make the enforcement of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) redundant. There should be a reduction in the security forces deployed in the areas which have seen a drastic reduction in militancy, he said. He also called for the removal of many of the bunkers in Srinagar localities manned by the paramilitary forces.

Mr Karat said that, given the major economic losses suffered due to the continued curfews and hartals for the past two-and-a-half months, the government must compensate and revive trade and other economic activities of different sections of the people.

NNN