THE Jammu & Kashmir state committee of the CPI(M) has expressed surprise, disappointment and deep regret over the comments made by Mehbooba Mufti,  PDP president, describing Narendra Modi as a leader who can take “tough decisions” on the Kashmir issue. In her speech at the Idea Exchange Programme at the Indian Express  in New Delhi on January 1, she  in a way asserted that a section of people in Kashmir harbour goodwill for Modi and expect him to do  some positive things viz-a-viz the Kashmir problem. The CPI(M) said the PDP president has expressed the belief that Modi would take pro-Kashmir “tough” and “positive” decisions, disregarding the fact that he is being seen as an icon of rabid communal platform. He has been nurtured and mentored by the Sangh Parivar. The PDP president’s expectations from a controversial person like Modi are highly disappointing and intriguing. The “toughness” Mehbooba Mufti talks of has been experienced by the people when it was delivered by Kalyan Singh, another leader of BJP in 1992 by demolishing the Babri Masjid and by Modi himself when a horrible communal carnage was engineered in Gujrat in 2002. Modi is known for his consistent demand for abrogation of article 370 and end of special status to J&K. Modi is also the person who has been against normalisation of relations with Pakistan and has been flexing muscles. Who does not know that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been facing toughness and even humiliation at the hands of the successive governments? It is an established fact that the BJP leadership is rousing communal passions and engineering assaults on the minorities. It is also building up ultra-national chauvinist atmosphere. Can its leadership be expected to initiate any positive response to the aspirations of the people for peace and harmony? The CPI(M) has suggest that all well meaning and genuine secular forces must close their ranks in order to defeat the designs of this vicious communal platform. UTILISE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEACE: J&K AMM  EXPRESSING the hope that the leaders of India and Pakistan would utilise all possible opportunities in 2014 to normalise their relations, the Awami Muttahida Mahaz (AMM) of Jammu & Kashmir has also believed that the state of J&K would witness a united and effective effort by its people for better policy alternatives. Through a statement issued from Srinagar on December 31, 203, AMM convenor Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami regretted that the two neighbouring countries had missed the opportunity in the outgoing year. Also, unfortunately, the people in general were quite disappointed and disillusioned with rampant corruption, dismal governance and ever increasing insensitiveness of the administration viz-a-viz miseries of our people in the state, the statement added.] The AMM statement expressed the hope that the year 2014 would bring marked changes in the situation and that the incoming year would be full of opportunities to for taking significant initiatives by the leadership of both the countries for peace in the region. The AMM also expects new initiatives by democratic forces, civil society groups, intelligentsia and youth for a process of conceiving better policy alternatives in order to overcome the crisis confronted by our people. The AMM also expressed its firm belief that it is only through united struggle of our toiling masses that emerging opportunities could be availed of, and pledged to contribute its bit to make this happen.