PM calls Azad, Mufti to defuse J&K crisis

TNN / Mar 19, 2007, 00:18 IST

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PM summoned Azad and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to New Delhi in an attempt to sort out differences between the two coalition partners.

PM calls Azad, Mufti to defuse J&K crisis

NEW DELHI/JAMMU/SRINAGAR: With People's Democratic Party (PDP) staying away from the Ghulam Nabi Azad Cabinet meeting for the third time in less than a month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday summoned Azad and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to New Delhi in an attempt to sort out differences between the two coalition partners.
Azad is already in Delhi and Sayeed is scheduled to meet the PM on Tuesday.In what seems to be an indication of the fast-deteriorating PDP-Congress relations, the Azad cabinet decided to anull transfers and promotions of officials in ministries run by PDP leaders.
The CM ordered that all transfers and promotions made in the finance, public health and other ministries headed by PDP be reverted.
Also, the cabinet on Sunday reinstated Iqbal Ahmed Khandey, who was in jail for his involvement in a sex scandal that shook the Valley some months ago, to a new post (MD, public enterprises).

This is also an indication that PDP concerns were being deliberately overlooked to further create a divide between the allies.
"The PM requested Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in the afternoon to meet him in New Delhi and discuss the situation after our boycott of the cabinet meeting on Sunday. Mufti Sahib has conceded the request and he is visiting Delhi," PDP leader and state finance minister Tariq Hamid Qarra told TOI.
Congress is opposed to the PDP's demand for troop reduction and withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special (Powers) Act.
PDP's refusal to participate in the cabinet meeting is seen as an indication of its intent to withdraw support to the government. A final decision on PDP's move will be made on March 25 when its political affairs committee meets.
All four PDP ministers — agriculture minister Abdul Aziz Zargar, finance minister Tariq Hamid Qarra, tourism minister Mohammad Dilawar Mir and forest minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal — haven't attended cabinet meetings since the party first raised the demands in February, saying the steps were needed to boost the confidence of people in the state.

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