Drabu pained over removal, says his statement was misconstrued
JAMMU: A day after he was sacked for his controversial remarks on the nature of the Kashmir dispute, former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) finance minister Haseeb Drabu said on Tuesday that he was pained at the way he was dismissed without an opportunity of being heard.
“While I understand and accept the decision of the Party, to take it to the media before talking to me, was painful. I was not accorded the opportunity to explain the context and the content of my speech,” he said in a statement.
He said he received no formal or even personal communication either from the government or from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) about Monday’s decision and that the manner of communicating it was shocking.
“I called the CM’S residence in New Delhi and was told that she was busy and would call me back in 10 minutes. That call never came. By early afternoon I called up the CM’S residence and sought an appointment. Even as I was waiting for it, it was reported on the website of the daily Greater Kashmir that the CM had decided to drop me from the council of ministers and had written to the Governor to this effect. I finally got a call to meet the CM at 7.15 pm,” he said.
Drabu said his speech at the PHDCCI programme on March 9 was focused on a thought, which had been on his mind: the role of civil society in resolving the issue of Kashmir.
“Speaking to a select gather- ing of ambassadors and industrialists, who could be possible investors in peace in J&K, I tried to make the point that Kashmir was not only a political issue... but that there is a social issue that needs to be resolved at the level of the civil society,” he said.
Drabu said it was made in the larger context of how society in Kashmir has been ravaged and has impaired real-life situations and sensibilities especially of the youngsters. Drabu also denied going against the PDP’S stated political position.
“Those who heard my speech or care to read it dispassionately will know that when I was talking about our aspirations and the efforts at self-discovery, I was in fact nuancing the very stand of the PDP...”
“Haseeb Drabu’s statement today (Tuesday) is a sequence of events that have taken place one after the other. He still continues to be in the party but ceases to be a minister,” said PDP chief spokesperson Rafi Mir.