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| LoC trade to help resolve Kashmir: Mufti | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Oct 12: Asserting that revival of the cross-LoC movement of people and goods would be a stepping stone towards anchoring the ultimate resolution of the Kashmir issue, the PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayed has said that "the political aspect of the Kashmir problem would be much easier to resolve if the economic space created in the paradigm of South Asian regional cooperation is ensured for a potentially rich place like Kashmir.
While addressing the PDP workers from Kulgam here today, Mufti said despite being land-locked and handicapped by a difficult terrain, Kashmir has historically remained a vital link of the Asian trade, business and cultural exchange. "Kashmir's silk-route traditions, still alive in many forms, need to be rediscovered to rejuvenate its economic potential," he said and added that if demolition of barriers is the ultimate aim of regional cooperation between the SAARC countries, there is no better place to start it than Kashmir which has been the worst victims of the region's geographical fragmentation.
The PDP Patron said while the facilitation of free movement of people and goods across the LoC will take care of the external dimensions of the Kashmir resolution process, internally we will have to move fast, with substantive measures, to address the just concerns and aspirations of its people for dignified and sustainable peace in the State.
"In a welcome departure, the discourse in Kashmir is now increasingly becoming non-violent and political as can be gauged from the recent developments," Mufti said and added that the new scenario demands a similar response from Government of India.
"The use of force has not helped in dealing with the situation in the past, nor is it going to defuse the present public unrest," Sayeed said and called for use of statesmanship skills and political wisdom in resolving the problem through a process of sustained dialogue and political engagement.
"The Government of India must not only restrain its forces from spraying bullets on the unarmed protesters, but it should, with a sense of urgency, reach out and listen to the grievances of the people of Kashmir, and address the same through political and democratic means," Sayeed said. |
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