Meeting at Patnitop ‘maps out’ troubled areas of state

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 8

The architect of the PDP-BJP alliance in J&K, Ram Madhav, had sought to clarify on Sunday that Patnitop meet had nothing to do with Kashmir issue except that the venue was in the state. “No kite-flying,” he said but in fact it was more than “kite-flying” as Kashmir dominated the much-hyped conclave, which held under the banner of India Foundation, in presence of the stalwarts of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Although consensus eluded the meet on how to reach out to different groups of the turbulent Valley, the troubled areas of the state were mapped out, both geographically and demographically, during deliberations so as to devise a comprehensive strategy to set agenda for the future course of action.

Highly placed sources said Ram Madhav informed the participants on how both parties (PDP and BJP) had mellowed down on controversial issues from their stated positions to set up agenda for coalition in the sensitive state.

The sources said the participants seemed not to be in a hurry for a Track II initiative as a majority of them were convinced with the argument that the ongoing turmoil was a nefarious gameplan of “internal and external forces” to destabilise the democratic set-up in the state. “Some members of the civil society were in favour of engaging all stakeholders, including separatists, in the dialogue process but not on their terms and conditions,” the sources said.

RSS ‘prant pracharak’ of J&K Ramesh Pappa, who made it a point to attend all sessions, threw light on various aspects of the problem. “In his hour-long address, Pappa sought to clarify that ‘trouble’ is confined only to the Kashmir valley, that too to six to seven districts and all other areas are by and large peaceful,” the sources said, adding, “the RSS leader gave examples of 10 districts of the Jammu province and two districts of Ladakh which are by and large peaceful.” He informed the participants that five to six districts of the Valley were volatile and other districts were mainly peaceful.

Mapping the troubled areas of J&K, the conclave observed that out of the total 22 districts of J&K, 12 districts were largely peaceful while in 10 districts of the Valley only half a dozen districts witnessed violent protests. Demographically mapping the violent areas, the conclave maintained that 10 districts of the Jammu province, including some Muslim-dominated ones, were peaceful. Similarly, life was also normal in Shia-dominated Kargil and Buddhist-dominated Leh districts of Ladakh, the conclave was told.

Prominent among those who attended the conclave included RSS leader Dattatreye Hosable, Union Minister Smirti Irani, Ram Madhav, Praful Ketkar, Malid Kamblay, Shaurya Doval, Alok Bansal and Shakti Sinha.