CPI welcomes Kashmir measures but feels much more needed

KOLKATA - The Communist Party of India (CPI) Sunday welcomed the decisions taken by the central government to defuse the volatile situation in the Kashmir Valley but felt that they were inadequate and belated.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) Saturday, announced that a group of interlocutors will be appointed to hold a dialogue on the Kashmir issue and youths arrested in the recent stone-pelting incidents will be freed soon.

“We welcome the decisions taken by the central government to bring back normalcy in Kashmir. But at the same time we feel that lot more needs to be done,” CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said at a party meeting here.

The CCS decisions were made on the assessment of the 39-member all-party delegation which visited Jammu and Kashmir last week.

Some of the other decisions of the CCS are - a review of the deployment of security forces in the state, review of bunkers and other security posts in the state, Rs.5 lakh compensation to the families of each of those killed in the recent violence, Rs.100 crore fund for renovation of schools, colleges and other institutions and appointment of a task force to study the infrastructure projects in the state.

“We welcome the decisions of the government but we feel that the measures taken are inadequate and belated. They have come after so many people died in the (Kashmir) valley,” Gurudas Dasgupta said at the meet.

However, there was no announcement by Chidambaram on the demand for withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from at least a few districts of the state.

The CPI feels that AFSPA should be withdrawn from the valley as a confidence-building measure.

“We want normalcy to return in the valley. We also want that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should be withdrawn from there,” Bardhan told reporters at the sidelines of the meeting.

Replying to another query, the CPI leader said the law could be first withdrawn from some parts of the Valley. “Then they can withdraw it from from the other parts depending on the results achieved.”

The all-party delegation visited Kashmir last week following a cycle of violence, which has rocked the valley since June 11.

At least 108 people, mostly youths and teenagers, have been killed in firing by security forces on stone-pelting street protesters during the past three and a half months.