Omar Abdullah peeved at Azad’s criticism on amnesty

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has taken strong exception to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s censure of his call for amnesty and rehabilitation of Kashmiri militants in Pakistan. Omar on Wednesday shot back saying the matter was beyond the Health ministry.

Snubbing Azad, his predecessor, Omar Abdullah said whether or not to give amnesty and rehabilitate the youth returning from Pakistan was for the central Home ministry to decide.

"It's a matter between us (the state government) and the union home ministry and not the union health ministry," Abdullah, who heads the Congress-National Conference coalition government, told reporters in Jammu.

Omar Abdullah in Delhi last week had proposed that a surrender and rehabilitation policy may be framed for the youth who had gone to Pakistan-administered Kashmir for militant training and were craving to return home without weapons and join the mainstream.

But Azad, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, during his visit to Jammu Tuesday said the surrender of the militants on their return from Pakistan could pose a serious danger to security in the state. "Who will guarantee (that these youths will not engage in terrorist activities)? Should we trust Pakistan?" Azad said. "Could it not be another way of infiltrating armed youth inside?"

Hundreds of Kashmiri youth had crossed over to Pakistani Kashmir for arms training in early 1990s. Fearing legal action, they have not returned home while people who visit the area say they are living in a pathetic state and are craving to return home if government gives them amnesty.

The idea to rehabilitate them on humanitarian basis was first floated in May 2006 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held the second roundtable conference on Kashmir in Srinagar. Azad was then heading the Congress-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) coalition government in the state. Manmohan Singh had listed this issue as one of the subjects to be looked into for addressing the internal dimension of the Kashmir issue, and at his press conference May 25, 2006, he had stated that talks would be held with Pakistan on this issue. A working group headed by M. Hamid Ansari, now vice-president, had recommended that the government should initiate talks with Pakistan to rehabilitate these youth.

- Asian Tribune -