Troop-cut decision after meet today: Mufti

Mufti, however, seemed optimistic regarding a positive outcome and said his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi had been “very good”. “The Centre knows we did contribute in establishing a credible political process by providing relief to the people. And when we advocate demilitarisation, we are sure that New Delhi is convinced that this issue touches the common people in Kashmir”.

In fact, the PDP leadership here has reconciled to a broader compromise, which will include a high-level central committee to look into gradual troop withdrawal, besides the vacation of troops from apple orchards, cultivable land and other government and private property.

Although the Congress and PDP are still at loggerheads on the issue of troop withdrawal, there is a unanimity emerging on relocating troops from government and private properties, especially orchards. “We have never opposed the vacation of troops from orchards, schools, government offices and private properties. We have already begun the process to relocate the troops from these places. In fact, our government has taken up the issue with the Defence Minister as well as the Army Chief,” Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

“But we have a different opinion about troop withdrawal. We don’t think it is helpful at this juncture because although there is a sharp decline in militancy, it hasn’t been curbed altogether,” the CM said. Azad said demilitarisation should happen only after militancy is curbed altogether. “We don’t want to see a sudden spurt in militancy once we go for troop withdrawal. Then we will have to go through the entire exercise again”.

Even as the Centre is yet to take a decision on PDP’s demand, the issue of demilitarisation has already started polarising the Valley’s political landscape.

The National Conference does not oppose the demand, but has questioned PDP’s motives, saying it is nothing but a political gimmick to divert public attention from the failures of the coalition.

The moderate Hurriyat will, in fact, be the biggest loser in case the Centre yields anything to the PDP. The issue had been at the core of their politics of late, especially after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf put the issue in his four-point proposal for a Kashmir solution.

“The PDP has raised the issue only after getting a nod from New Delhi. They want to give credibility to the PDP in Kashmir,” Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told The Indian Express.

Sensing that the Centre might give the PDP a face-saver, the Hurriyat moderates have started taking a hardline stand. “We don’t want the troops to go to the barracks, we want a complete withdrawal,” Mirwaiz said.