New Delhi: The BJP’s key ally Shiv Sena today slammed the Central government’s ‘constantly changing’ policies on Hurriyat, saying that the ‘u-turn made by the government to allow the separatists to hold dialogues with Pakistan were nothing short of incredible’.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that Kashmir is an ‘emotional and sensitive matter’, adding there are divisive forces in Kashmir like the Hurriyat, who are trying to align the state with Pakistan or make it independent.
"We have always maintained that there should be no talks with such people because the Hurriyat wants Pakistan to be involved in talks regarding Kashmir. Even the BJP agreed with us, now suddenly allowing Hurriyat to talk with Pakistan is incredible. Even the Congress did not do this," he said.
He further said that if the Congress government had taken this stand, his party would have branded the it as 'agents' who want to sell Kashmir to Pakistan but ‘their hands were now tied since it was the BJP’.
"They (government) need to think really carefully when they make decisions regarding Kashmir. It will not fare well for the nation if the Centre makes a spectacle of love with those people, who have already shaken hands with Pakistan," Raut said.
"This U turn of the government on the Hurriyat is equivalent to saying that Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir was actually Babri Masjid. Things are becoming strange these days. They can put even a chameleon to shame by the way they are changing colours. It beats us as to how they are able to do this,” an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana said.
The Shiv Sena's reaction comes in wake of the Centre giving its nod to the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders for talks with Pakistan and its representatives, two years after imposing a policy whereby the Pakistani officials meeting Hurriyat leaders was strictly prohibited.
MoS for External Affairs General (Retd.) VK Singh had in a written reply to the Parliament last week said there is no bar on so-called Kashmiri leaders meetings with representatives of any country in India since the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India and they are Indian citizens.
