PDP asks J

Srinagar, Nov 28 (UNI) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a key coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir, today asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to rein in their functionaries in the state for issuing ''immature and reckless'' statements against it.

The party strongly condemned the recent remarks of state BJP President Ashok Khajuria in which he accused the PDP leaders of issuing anti-national statements.

A PDP spokesman said the process of political reconciliation, which Mr Khajuria portrayed as an anti-state activity, was in fact pioneered by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and carried forward by his successor Dr Manmohan Singh.

The PDP's demand for troop reduction and revocation of AFSPA was in tune with the public sentiment and the party strongly believed that the time has come for taking such measures in the interest of peace, he added.

The spokesman said the fact that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were the biggest custodians of the state's interests has to be recognised and respected by allowing democratic and civil society institutions to assert fully away from the shadow of guns.

''By resorting to hawkish policies, the BJP leaders are doing no good either to the state or to the country. Such provocative and irresponsible utterances only add to the alienation of the people,'' he said, adding it would be in the interest of the state BJP if Mr Khajuria puts his own house in order instead of aiming too high.

UNI