Govt makes mess of invitations
Baba Umar
Srinagar, Sept 19: The government’s invitation to civil society members for today’s ’ all-party meeting may not come up to New Delhi’s expectations as several invitees that include members of trade bodies, tourism alliances, newspaper guilds are either undecided about their participation or have declared to boycott the meeting.
The 38-member all-party delegation will arrive today to "assess the ground situation in Kashmir” and is being led by Home Minister P Chidambaram.
In a meeting here, Kashmir Editors Guild decided to boycott the event reasoning media gag, use of violence against journalists and interference in paper distribution during past several months as main cause.
“We’ve decided to boycott the APD meeting. At the same time KEG also condemns use of force against journalists which has now become a routine here,” General Secretary and Chief Editor of an Urdu daily, Tahir Mohiuddin said.
Similarly, Kashmir Hoteliers and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF) too has decided to boycott the APG meeting.
“We recently held a discussion in which all tourism-related bodies agreed to boycott this meeting. We are not participating,” KHAROF President, Mushtaq Burza told Rising Kashmir over phone.
In a statement issued to press, student’s union of the University of Kashmir (KUSU) said they are boycotting the event.
“Any student meeting the delegation is clearly sponsored by the state and not among us,” said KUSU which was recently banned by the KU Vice Chancellor Prof Riyaz Punjabi.
Even students invited from the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora (IUST) have refused to attend the meeting.
“We won’t participate in the meeting. Last time kin of BJP State Vice-President Sofi Yousuf who was claimed to be a student of Kashmir University said something in a Delhi meeting and it was wrongly attributed to all of us. There was no participation from KU students yet he was declared as the student of varsity. IUST students spoke unequivocally that majority of the people in Kashmir want India to keep its promise of holding plebiscite in Kashmir,” said IUST students who wished not to be named.
There are, however, many who are yet to decide about their participation. While most of them received invitations over phone, many of these groups said they couldn’t consult their decision-making core committee members “because of strict restrictions and continuous killings.”
“Today we received the invitation. But we couldn’t assemble and discuss it because of curfews and restrictions. We are undecided about it,” President of another hotelier’s body, Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Association (KHARA), Siraj Ahmad said.
While a key trade body, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) received invitation couple of days ago from Divisional Commissioner’s office, its president said they couldn’t meet and discuss whether the chamber is participating or not.
“Frankly speaking our core group couldn’t meet. Troops stationed in streets have enforced the never-seen before clampdown of the entire Kashmir. But we are meeting on Monday morning and any decision agreed upon by members will be informed to you,” President of KCCI, Nazir Ahmad Dar said.
Senior members of Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir FCIK couldn’t be reached for their comments despite repeated attempts.
There are also many who said the invitations to them haven’t been formal which could result in boycotting the meeting.
“Just an hour ago I was invited on phone for the meeting. I don’t think you invite people this way. If the formal invitation comes then only I’ll attend the all-party meeting,” civil society member and noted Child Specialist of the Valley Dr Altaf Hussein said.
Meanwhile, sources told Rising Kashmir that Youth Congress President Shoiab Lone had sought time to meet the delegation members but was denied by the government.
Likewise, Urdu Academy Jammu and Kashmir and Adbi Markaz Kamraz too were denied permission to meet the all-party delegation
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