“We are discussing the Kashmir i

“We are discussing the Kashmir issue for the fourth time. The Prime Minister should come. He chose Madhya Pradesh to speak on Kashmir. He did not come to this House. Since when has Madhya Pradesh become the capital of the country? We know that he sits in his room in Parliament from morning to evening,” Mr. Azad said.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Mr. Azad said, “He tweets if something happens in Africa. Even if something happens in our enemy country, Pakistan, he issues condemnation….when the Crown of India is on fire, shouldn’t you feel the heat?”

Mr. Azad said several confidence building measures were taken during both UPA-I and UPA-II headed by former PM Manmohan Singh. Highlighting the steps taken then, the Congress said three roundtable conferences were held between February 2006 and April 2007 in which all shades of political opinion, except separatist Hurriyat Conference, participated. Five sub-groups were set up and several of their recommendations were implemented, he said.

Mr. Singh, while asserting that he was speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that the PM was concerned at the situation and promised to consider sending an all-party delegation to Kashmir after analysing the ground situation.

Responding to demands for initiating a political process in Kashmir, Mr. Singh said the government was ready to have talks with mainstream parties, moderates and others. “We are ready. I will ask the Chief Minister where to start the process and with whom to talk,” he said.

“Whatever is happening in Kashmir is not because of the people there. Whatever is happening is Pakistan-sponsored,” he said.

He lauded Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, saying she and her government had done a good job in this difficult situation. In this regard, he gave details about how much ration, milk and other daily essentials have been distributed in Kashmir even during the curfew.

He insisted that only some parts of Kashmir, and not the entire Valley, are under curfew and that in the rest of the places, markets are closed due to “fear” owing to the strike called by separatists.

Ramgopal Yadav of the SP sought to trace the problem to “some past mistakes” including Partition and failure to extract strong commitments from Pakistan after India’s victories in the wars of 1965 and 1971.

“A number of princely States had become a part of India under Sardar Patel but Kashmir was handled by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Had Nehru waited for a few more days before going to the UN Security Council when Indian forces were repulsing Pakistan army-backed raiders from what is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, these areas would have been with India,” he said.

Trust deficit: Yechury

Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M) said there was trust deficit among the people due to a “string of betrayals.”

“There is a need to address the trust deficit in the Valley. Why are the people alienated? What is preventing this government from initiating a political dialogue,” he said, while demanding that the use of pellet guns be stopped.