JKNPP accuses Vajpayee of dividing Kashmir

NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party today accused prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of "planning to divide Jammu and Kashmir by succumbing to American pressure." Panthers party chairman Bhim Singh today said the United States had mounted pressure on the Indian government to resolve the Kashmir issue by accepting the division of the state.

"The Vajpayee government is planning to divide Jammu and Kashmir on communal lines," he said.

According to him, the American `plan' talks of dividing the state into three parts Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh and giving Kashmir to Pakistan and making Jammu a state of India and Ladakh a union territory.

"The policy of the Vajpayee government to seek resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and restore peace has caused many doubts in the minds of the people about their future," Prof.

He said the resolution of the Kashmir issue needed a consensus among the representatives of the state and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

Prof Singh alleged that the Vajpayee government had formed a road map to peace in Kashmir on the directives of the US administration.

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir have the right to know about the roadmap," he added.

Urging India and Pakistan governments not to play into the hands of the US, he said if they did so, it would lead to more death and destruction.