Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the prevailing situation in Kashmir presents not just a challenge, but also an opportunity to the Prime Minister to take some bold measures towards resolution of the issue and make India more at peace not only with its neighbors, but also with itself.
While referring to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s recent statement that the seeds of the current unrest in Kashmir were sown during Independence and a ‘solution to the problem will be found’, Mehbooba stressing for the need for revival of the peace, reconciliation and confidence building initiatives, both on internal and external fronts, which she said had worked so well between 2002 and 2005.
Mehbooba averred that the present situation in Kashmir calls for every right thinking party, group or individual to rise to the occasion and strive for finding ways and avenues for the restoration of peace and resolution of the problem.
“To end the stalemate and rein in the vicious cycle of violence, the doors for purposeful, constructive and unconditional dialogue need to be opened,” she said and added that those having different political ideologies also need to realize that the issues can be resolved only through dialogue and not through violence.
“Even after wars and major conflicts around the world, the issues have been ultimately resolved through dialogue and same stands true for Jammu and Kashmir,” she maintained.
The Chief Minister said that right from early nineties, people in Jammu and Kashmir have been living through bloodshed, pain, suffering and miseries and there has to be an end to this trail of death and destruction.
“Right now Kashmir is again embroiled in a burning situation and we have hope that all sides will pick up elements of sanity and pragmatism and strike a new benchmark towards the resolution of the problem in light of the global and sub-continental realities,” she said.
The Chief Minister said that the pain of Kashmiris has reached a level, where the hope for a peaceful resolution of their problems is sure to get substantial support and “we should not allow this opportunity to be lost, especially when all the political parties in the country are on board for a permanent solution.” (PTK)