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| Militants meet Mehbooba, seek safe return | | | Early Times Reporter
Islamabad | Mar 31
Several Kashmiri youths, who had crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for militancy in early 1990s, met PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti in Rawalpindi today with a desire to return home, eliciting an assurance that the matter would be taken up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Mufti, who is on a visit to Pakistan, said "bold reconciliatory" steps needed to be taken to facilitate "safe passage" of those who have shunned the path of violence and are eager to return.
The youths, who had crossed over in early 1990s for arms training, are now eager to return and live peaceful lives, a press release issued by PDP said.
They met the PDP President and sought her intervention in facilitating their safe return home, it said.
"Some non-combatant political activists", who had also crossed over to PoK, also met Mufti with a similar plea, the party release said.
Mufti told them that her party has been raising such a matter and "I will again raise the issue with the Prime Minister and other authorities concerned in New Delhi when I go back."
Noting that safe passage was among the confidence building measures proposed in the recommendations of a Working Group of the Prime Minister, she said "I think the time has come to go for such a bold reconciliatory measures in the interest of peace and stability."
Mufti also favoured early launch of trade across the Line of Control (LoC) as she met former PoK President Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan.
"It is ironic that cement consignments from Pakistan are allowed to land in Kashmir all the way through Wagah border and not through Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road," the two leaders said.
They said the leadership of the two countries must muster political courage and remove fast the obstacles in the path of cross-LoC trade for the larger good of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. |
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