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| Mufti begins in the name of Azad | | New Delhi asked to implement WG suggestions | |
EARLY TIMES REPORTER
Jammu, Aug 4: The Peoples Democratic Party chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed never names the leader of his coalition partner while addressing his partymen, but interestingly his speeches mostly begin with the name of Azad and end in his name.
As Mufti arrived here today to address the party workers at a special function to mark the eighth year of the foundation of the party, Azad's name remained at the top of his mind.
With out naming Azad, Mufti said that the State's political leadership must now take full charge of the situation, by expanding and consolidating the role of the people's institutions, to create a potent coalition for peace and amicable resolution of the problems.
Addressing an impressive function organized in connection with the party's Foundation Day celebrations here today, Sayeed emphasized that the State's political decision-making apparatus must capture and represent the views and concerns of the people instead of indulging in politics of exclusion suited to extraneous considerations. "The solution to most of the problems lies with the people themselves," he said and added that what requires to be done is to provide, to the people, an enabling political environment to ensure their participatory involvement in the peace and development process.
"The fast-transforming situation in the State now, essentially, requires a collaborative multifaceted stakeholdership between the civil society and the government," Sayeed said and added that one of the main causes of the State's troubles is the vicious circle of political and economic exclusion that has led to ideological claustrophobia of its people. He said one of the major challenges in Jammu and Kashmir today is "connectivity" – the lack of it and the need for it. "We need to open up and connect the State physically, economically, academically, socially and culturally with the larger world out there," he said and added that the people in Kashmir believe that they have been living more in a mental valley than a physical or a geographical valley. "To make people come out of the mentality of siege, we shall have to accelerate the process of inter and intra-state connectivity reviving all the traditional routes passing through various parts of the State," he said.
Acknowledging that a sustained Indo-Pak dialogue process, despite occasional hiccups, is moving on the right path, Sayeed said the recent positive movement on boosting the business between the two countries and resuming trade on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road is indicative of the inevitability of the peace process in the larger economic interest of the region. He, however, emphasized that as the people in all the regions of the State have put their weight behind the reconciliation process, they deserve to share its fruits. "Free movement of people and goods should not be confined to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road only, but it should be extended to all the traditional routes including Suchetgarh-Sialkote, Kargil-Skardu, Bandipora-Gurez-Gilgit, Poonch-Rawalakote and Nowshehra-Mirpur roads," he said.
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