Author:
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: May 17, 2002
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/may/17jk3.htm
Communist Party of India-Marxist
leader Somnath Chatterjee on Friday offered a three-pronged strategy to
help resolve the Kashmir issue.
Participating in the Lok Sabha debate
on the May 14 terrorist attack at Kalu Chak in Jammu, the veteran Marxist
said the government should step up diplomatic and political pressure on
Pakistan, initiate a political process in Jammu and Kashmir and increase
border security to check infiltration. As a first step, he suggested offering
autonomy to the troubled state.
Warning that Pakistan too was a
nuclear power, Chatterjee said "jingoistic utterances" by sections within
the ruling National Democratic Alliance calling for a war in the wake of
Tuesday's terrorist strike would not solve the problem.
He also ridiculed the talk of a
"limited war", saying according to eminent defence experts, there was no
such concept. "We do not understand what is a limited war," he said.
Strongly condemning the Jammu massacre
and asserting that Kashmir was an integral part of India, the CPI-M leader,
however, said this did not mean that his party condoned the government's
failure to check such incidents.
The people of Kashmir had been alienated
by the policies of the Farooq Abdullah government, and no one was sure
whether all sections of the state would participate in the upcoming assembly
polls there, he said.
He also wondered whether Washington
had reciprocated India's assistance in the war against terrorism by helping
combat cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.