Omar Abdullah says time to resolve Kashmir issue

Srinagar, India, July 6, IRNA - Chief minister of troubled Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, has said that the time had come to go to the roots of the Kashmir issue to solve it in good faith and seriousness.

Echoing Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that borders could not be redrawn but made irrelevant, Omar asserted that to achieve that goal federal government at New Delhi, the state and other quarters would have to rise above political differences.

Speaking to cabinet ministers and top officers during his visit to the curfew bound Baramulla, the chief minister said that the government owed it to the people of Jammu & Kashmir to live up to their expectation and fulfill their aspirations.

He said that his government was committed to the people of the state and would work for them as per their wishes. Omar said he would continue to reach out to the people at the grass roots level, understand their aspirations and strive to resolve the issues close to their heart as per their expectations.

In a bid to pacify the public tempers, running high following spate of killings by police in recent days, Omar said that the time had come to go to the root of the problem in Kashmir and address it with all sincerity.

He appealed to the union government that while a dialogue had started between India and Pakistan at different levels, a political dialogue between the centre and different shades of opinion within Kashmir must also start in right earnest and his government was ready to act as a facilitator for such a dialogue. At the same time he also appealed to all shades of opinion to leave behind their personal agendas and come forward for a meaningful dialogue in the interest of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Referring to the road connecting divided parts of Kashmir he said the initiative of opening Srinagar-Muzafarabad road was incomplete as long as it was only confined to the divided families. He urged the union government to open the Srinagar -Muzafarabad road for all the people of Jammu & Kashmir living across the line of control irrespective of whether they have relatives on either side.

He said that for peace to come to Jammu & Kashmir it was imperative that people to people contact between the two parts of Kashmir should start and that there should be free movement of people across the LoC. He said that he wished that someday in his life time Muzafarabad and Srinagar were linked by railway line.

He said the lines between the India and Pakistan could not be redrawn but they could be made irrelevant and all must work towards that. He said during the Manmohan - Musharaf talks, India and Pakistan had come close to a solution but circumstances derailed the process.

“But we should not lose heart, and restart an effort to initiate a meaningful dialogue and strengthen the confidence building measures between the two nations and the people on both sides of Jammu & Kashmir,” he said.

Omar said that his government would work with the union government to strengthen cross LoC trade and change it from a barter system to proper trade where the financial transactions actually happened through the banking system./end