Govt opening way for 3rd party interference in Kashmir: CPI(M)

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) Accusing the government of opening the way for "third party interference" in Kashmir, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (C.P.I.-M) Saturday said the recent visits of American and Israeli army chiefs to the valley showed that the United Progressive Alliance (U.P.A.) regime was "not bothered" about the message being sent through such moves.

"The people of the Kashmir valley have had a direct
experience of the nexus with the U.S. and Israel. It has
opened the way for third party interference in Kashmir," party
General Secretary Prakash Karat said.

While Jammu was "paralysed" for a month and the
government "did nothing", the Kashmir situation was also being
met by "only force and administrative measures".

What message was being sent by all this to the people
of the valley and to all Muslim countries "is something that
does not bother a government which sees the future of India
through the prism of the U.S. neo-conservatives," Karat said
in an article in the latest issue of C.P.I.-M. organ 'People's
Democracy'.

Launching a scathing attack on the U.P.A. regime, the top
Left leader said, "no government has lost credibility or
legitimacy so rapidly in a short time as the Manmohan Singh
government did, in the four months period since the sordid
goings on to manufacture a majority in the trust vote."

Referring to continued communal attacks on Christians and
Muslims in different parts of the country, Karat said no
action was being taken to curb the "lawless violence" by the
Bajrang Dal and other such outfits.

Even U.P.A. partners like Lalu Prasad (Rashtriya Janata
Dal) and Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) and the "sober
advice" of Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party) to act
against Bajrang Dal "could not move" the government.

Observing that the "refusal" to act against these outfits
was not due to lack of evidence or political support, the
C.P.I.-M. leader said if action had been taken, then every
secular party outside the National Democratic Alliance
(N.D.A.) would have supported it.

"Even the allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.)
like the Janata Dal-United (J.D.-U.) and the Biju Janata Dal
(B.J.D.) would have found it difficult to oppose it.... The
failure to intervene in Kandhamal and bring the Bajrang Dal to
book is the latest pusillanimous stand starting from the
back-tracking and vacillations on the Babri Masjid issue,"
Karat said.

Maintaining that the Centre also "seems oblivious of the
widespread rounding up and harassment of Muslim youth whenever
a terrorist blast takes place", he said the police was
"increasingly seen to be targetting" the Muslims. "This has
caused widespread anger and fear among the minorities. It
cannot be denied that some Muslim youth are being drawn into
groups who espouse extremist ideology and violence."

While the Congress-led government was losing the
confidence of the minorities on one hand, it was "emboldening
the Hindu communalists as they go unchecked with their plans
to foment communal tensions and create polarisation."

Karat also took the government to task for its "abysmal
failure" to comprehend and act decisively in tackling the
impact of the U.S. and global financial crisis. PTI