PDP’s Self Rule Formula Most Pragmatic Way To Resolve Kashmir Issue: Mehbooba

Says political leadership must strive in unison to get state out of present uncertainty

Srinagar, May 19: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that only meaningful engagement between India and Pakistan and the leadership of the state can resolve decades old Kashmir conflict and accord permanent peace to the region.

Chairing an important meeting of party’s top leadership and important functionaries of Kashmir and Ladakh, Mehbooba said that it is high time for all the political forces to come together and make strenuous efforts in unison to get Jammu and Kashmir out of the present uncertainty, bloodshed, mayhem and chaos.

Mehbooba said that the world has now realized how Kashmir issue, if allowed to remain unsettled, could become a major cause for pushing both India and Pakistan towards brink of a nuclear war. She said that it is high time that both the countries for their greater common good address Kashmir issue on priority and to begin with, PDP’s Self Rule formula is the best option as already described by the saner voices of South Asia.

Mehbooba said that in recent times, Pakistan was giving positive vibes about its realization that meaningful & peaceful engagement was the only possible way forward and the central government should reciprocate positively to every initiative of peace and reconciliation.

The PDP president asserted that after the 2014 polls, the government in Jammu and Kashmir wasn’t formed for the petty power but in the larger interests of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and get the people out of the squalid conditions. The government was formed to ensure the peace returns and the perturbed people of the state could heave a sigh of relief from bloodshed, mayhem and uncertainty, said the PDP president, adding that the core motive of the PDP has always been to get India and Pakistan on table to talk peace and end the decades only conflict, the brunt of which is primarily been borne by the innocent people of the state.

PDP President added that time has come for both the countries that they leave their ego for the betterment of largest human mass residing in south Asia and same can be achieved by addressing the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and also while safeguarding the integrity of both the countries. She added that it is more or less around the agenda of the PDP which includes opening of roads across the LOC, safeguarding special status of Jammu and Kashmir, fulfillment of constitutional commitments, utilization of state’s water resources for the benefit of the state, establishment of joint council between Jammu and Kashmir and Pak administered Kashmir so that matters pertaining to trade, tourism, commerce, natural disasters, global warming are jointly taken care of.

Asking party members to work with greater zeal to help mitigate sufferings of the people, Mehbooba asserted that PDP and its cadre will play a pivotal role in structuring and executing any effective formulation to get people of the state out of morass.

Party patron Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, party vice president A R Veeri, General Secretary Gh Nabi Lone Hanjoora and Abdul Haq Khan also addressed the gathering. (KNS)