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| Don't play politics over PM's Kashmir initiative: Mufti to BJP | | |
Srinagar, July 25 – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today called for strengthening the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's efforts in peacefully resolving the problems of Jammu & Kashmir. "The country in general and the BJP in particular must lend a helping hand in expanding the scope of the peace process initiated by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee in April 2003 and carried forward by Dr Singh," he said.
Addressing PDP workers from Baramulla and Budgam here this morning, Sayeed said the main strength of the present peace process is that two successive Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh led it personally and created a consensus for peace in the country and the region. He said, now, at a time when Kashmir has started emanating signals of peace and reconciliation amidst a troubled situation in our neighborhood, the negative attitude of some BJP leaders towards the peace process is quite disappointing. He reminded that it was the then Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who in 2003, amidst an edgy atmosphere in the sub-continent, resolutely set off the reconciliation process, after seeing a strong urge for peace in Jammu & Kashmir. "Everybody in the country including the Congress, which was the main opposition party at that time, fully supported Mr Vajpayee's peace initiative in good spirit," he said.
Strongly disapproving the BJP's unwarranted criticism of the Prime Minister's recent initiatives on Kashmir including the steps taken to thin the deployment of troops and review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Sayeed said such unconstructive utterances from the BJP's central leaders are quite disquieting and these could have a fallout on the fast-changing scenario in the State and the region. "PDP expects the BJP to act like a responsible national opposition party and strengthen the Prime Minister's resolve on Kashmir the same way as was done by the central leadership of the Congress in 2003," he said and added that in the interest of the region's peace, the country's political leadership, cutting across the divide, must seize the historic moment when Kashmir has once again started showing the way forward.
Urging BJP stalwarts Mr Vajpayee and Mr L K Advani to break their conspicuous silence on Kashmir initiatives, Sayeed said instead of allowing the party to draw petty political mileage by hardening its stance on a sensitive issue like Kashmir, BJP leadership must step in and prevent its cadres from undermining the peace process that is vital for the stability and economic prosperity of the country and the region. "I don't understand why a statesman like Mr Vajpayee is keeping mum when so much is happening in and around Kashmir since he launched the peace process from Srinagar in 2003," he said.
Sayeed said without getting discouraged by the lackluster attitude of the BJP, the political leadership in the State and at the Center must further push ahead the peace process in Jammu & Kashmir with focused attention on people-oriented confidence building measures in the interest of peace and prosperity of the people.
Senior PDP leaders Mohammad Dillawar Mir, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Basharat Bukhari, Javed Ahmad Dar and Javed Baig were present on the occasion.
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