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| Mufti: peace in South Asia only via Kashmir | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb18: Reminding New Delhi and Islamabad of their political and moral role, the Peoples Democratic Party Patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today underlined that there was no route to peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia which does not pass through Jammu and Kashmir.
Mufti said amicable settlement the problem of Jammu and Kashmir offers the only opportunity of a breakthrough for India and Pakistan to co-exist peacefully and to the benefit of one of the largest human masses of the world. He said Jammu and Kashmir, in recent years has shown the way forward and it is for New Delhi and Islamabad to respond positively to the people's yearning for peace and a permanent settlement of the issue. He was addressing a function at the party headquarters.
The PDP Patron said continuation of the historic peace process set off on April 18, 2003 by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and carried on by his successor Dr Manmohan Singh was a historical necessity. "Neither country could afford to go back on it, nor would Kashmir issue disappear by whatever else happens around it," he said.
Referring to the internal dimension of the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, Sayeed said there were important and well-defined issues to be resolved between the State and the Union. "Most of them had been covered by the Working Groups constituted by the Prime Minister," he said and added these recommendations should not prove mere pieces of paper and would have to be acted upon in the interest of the people of the State and the country. The PDP, he said, will with all its public support work for implementation of these recommendations for the larger public good.
Mufti said the current crisis on economic, financial and infrastructure fronts confronting the State can't be met with small-time responses of the Government. He said patchworks can't improve the quality of life of the State's people and the larger issue of exploitation of State's water and land resources has to be addressed to take care of the State's development needs in the 21st century.
The PDP Patron said all regions of the State are facing economic deprivation because of wanton exploitation of our water and natural resources. He said economic empowerment of the common people, including our youth, can be achieved only if we have a free and unlimited access to our own resources.
"The Central Government will only have to create an enabling atmosphere in which we can seek and receive direct financial investment in the State," Sayeed said. Unfortunately, this has been discouraged in J&K and instead our water resources were usurped first in the 1950's by sealing the rights on them to the central government under the Indus Water Treaty and later during the last National Conference regime that signed away all the major identified power projects mostly on Chenab and Jehlum to the NHPC, he said. "This unimaginative action has now rendered the State to economic destitution with the Doda and Kishtwar districts today facing a double-edged weapon," he said and demanded review of all such actions that are detrimental to the State's economic interests.
The PDP Patron said even the Working Groups and the Prime Minister's Special Task Force on Economic Development of Jammu & Kashmir have strongly recommended transfer of Center-owned power projects to the State. "The Government of India must act on these recommendations with sincerity of purpose to address the State's economic and financial woes," he said.
On this occasion, LJP leaders Rafiq Malik, State President, Dinesh Verma, Senior Vice-President,, Showkat Ali, President Kissan Cell, Gurdeep Singh Pandey, State President Youth, Sanjay Bhagat, State Secretary, Tilak Rak ,General Secretary Dalit Sena, Khakhan Babar, State Secretary, Mulkh Raj, State Secretary, Jagtar Singh, District President, Arvind Malhotra, Convener and BSP State Secretary Kapoor Chand Bhagat along with their supporters joined the PDP.
Rafiq Malik, Showkat Ali, Gurdeep Singh Panday and Sanjay Bhagat had contested the recent assembly elections as the candidates of their respective parties.
PDP leaders Ved Mahajan, Sardar Rangil Singh, Trilok Singh Bajwa, Dhaman Bhasin, Mohammad Dillawar Mir, Murtaza Khan, Sardar Manjeet Singh, Shanti Devi, Chodhary Nizam-ud-Din Khatana, Asghar Ali, Falail Singh, Bladev Salathia, Rashid Malik and Balbir Singh were also present on the occasion
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