Jaiswal rejects Pakistani prez proposal on J&K

UNION MINISTER of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday ruled out Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf?s proposal of ?self rule? for Jammu and Kashmir saying that the military ruler had no right to talk of democracy while depriving his own country of democratic rights.

UNION MINISTER of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday ruled out Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s proposal of ‘self rule’ for Jammu and Kashmir saying that the military ruler had no right to talk of democracy while depriving his own country of democratic rights.

HT Image

“President Musharraf’s ‘self rule’ proposal is not applicable to India. Rather it is applicable to Pakistan where people have been deprived of their democratic rights,” Jaiswal told reporters here.

He said India categorically dismissed Misharraf’s ‘self rule’ proposal on the ground that people of Jammu and Kashmir elected their own government while this was not the case in Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that Musharraf recently came up with ‘self rule’ proposal for Jammu and Kashmir, demanding demilitarisation of some areas in the valley.

The Congress-PDP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, led by Congress Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, responded to the offer with divergent views.

While on one hand, the Congress, especially CM Azad categorically ruled out Musharraf’s proposal on the ground that the State enjoyed special powers under Article 370, had its own constitution and also elected its own government in a democratic manner, on the other hand, the PDP and its president Mehbooba Mufti were toeing Musharraf’s line.