Hurriyat should be included in dialogue process: Aiyar
Srinagar, Aug 25: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Saturday that Hurriyat should be included in every dialogue process, adding that Article 35A must remain a part of the Constitution to ensure that the people of Kashmir do not feel threatened.
Aiyar was delivering a lecture at a seminar organized by the Centre for Peace and Progress in summer capital Srinagar.
"A right that Kashmiris have for the last so many years should remain with them so that they do not feel threatened," he said.
"It is in our Constitution and one must not make any attempt to revoke it. Some people are unnecessarily raking up the issue which is not in anyone's interest," he said.
"The matter is in the Supreme Court, but I hope the court would take the national interest into account before taking any decision," Aiyar said.
Later, talking to reporters, Aiyar said: "When we came here in May last year, we had invited the Hurriyat. We met everyone who was ready to meet us. We could not meet Yasin Malik. Yesterday, I got a friend to call him saying I was coming again, if I could meet him. He replied saying that he would meet me in Delhi and not here."
"I agree with you that Hurriyat should also be included in all the dialogues. Dialogues should be held with everyone. I also know many Kashmiris who want to be with India. I consider Kashmiris as one of my own and myself as one of them," he added.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
