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Govt miffed by Dalai Lama's statement on J&K

While Hurriyat Conference leaders are happy with the Dalai Lama's statement at a peace conference in Madras on Sunday that he supported the Hurriyat stand that the people of Kashmir should be consulted while finding a solution to the Kashmir problem, the Union government is not pleased.

"The Dalai Lama has given a wonderful statement," an elated Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, former Hurriyat chairman, told rediff.com on phone from Madras on Monday morning.

Asked if the Hurriyat planned to meet the Dalai Lama, Mirwaiz said that the leadership would try to meet him on their return to New Delhi Monday evening.

"If we are not able to meet him then we will send him a letter. I have already extended him an invitation to visit Kashmir. We will send him an invitation in writing and I am sure he will respond to it," he said.

Union Home Minister L K Advani is obviously not pleased with the statement. In fact, he has asked home ministry officials to study it. The matter might also figure in Parliament as under the conditions of asylum given to him in the early fifties, the Dalai Lama is not supposed to make political statements in India.

"He is not supposed to talk against China from Indian soil but instead he has chosen to speak against India," a senior Congress member told rediff.com.

The statement has also sent shock waves amongst Bharatiya Janata Party circles, who see this as direct interference in the internal affairs of India.

J P Mathur, a senior member of the BJP, told rediff.com, "The Dalai Lama's statement may be true in case of Tibet but the situation in J&K is far different and the same logic cannot be applied since an elected government is in place in the state."

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Affairs I D Swami left for Doda and Kistwar districts where in past two weeks militants have killed innocent people in two separate incidents. "I have been given the task of assessing the situation in the state and I will give my report as soon as I am back in Delhi," Swami told newsmen before leaving for Jammu.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has sent Ghulam Nabi Azad and Major Ved Prakash to visit Doda and Kistwar and report to her. She has also asked the Union government to make sure that the state government provides protection to citizens who are proving soft targets.

"While talking to Pakistan, we should be concerned about the security of citizens of Jammu and Kashmir," Gandhi said in a statement.

Advani has called a high-level meeting of security officials from his ministry and Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. J&K Chief Minister Dr Farooq Adbullah is also expected to take part.

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