Srinagar, Apr 19: Peoples Democratic Party Monday announced setting off a mass campaign to build public opinion for speedy resolution of the Kashmir issue.
“The party calls upon the prime ministers of India and Pakistan to hold a formal meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit at Bhutan at the end of this month to kick start the dialogue and resolution process,” stated a resolution adopted at the party’s Executive Committee meeting here today.
The meeting was presided over by the PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
The meeting, according to a PDP statement, expressed deep concern over the inability of the governments of India and Pakistan to defreeze the peace process, and also over the “worsening human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The meeting observed that the current status of relations between India and Pakistan was generating a sense of renewed despair among the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have been at the receiving end of the two country’s inability to resolve issues peacefully.
“Though people had been looking forward to various recent occasions for the political leaders of the two countries to meet, they were left disappointed. The leaders of the two countries seem to be oblivious to the sufferings of the people who, short of a final solution, cannot feel compensated for their troubles either by any material help or lip service,” said the party handout.
The meeting, which among others was attended by PDP leaders including President, Mehbooba Mufti, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, and Tariq Hameed Karra has resolved to initiate a mass campaign to build public opinion for a speedy resolution of Kashmir problem.
“The party believes that, as the main stakeholders in peace and resolution, the aspirations of people must be responded to and it calls upon the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to walk that extra mile for peace that has been promised so often.”
“Peoples Democratic Party is perturbed at the unabated violation of human rights in the state. The 70-year-old Habibullah Khan of Kupwara and the teenaged Zubair of Sopore are only the latest mascots of the insensitive, cruel and repressive handling of the situation here. With several thousand innocent youth and political leaders put behind bars under the draconian PSA, the government is trying to stifle the voices of dissent and dissatisfaction that can trigger off only more alienation amongst the masses,” the statement said.
It said the strong-arm tactics of the government to muzzle opposition and the introduction of “Police Raj” was at cross-purposes with the democratic aspirations of people who had voted in large numbers. “The party will resist this attitude, using all peaceful and democratic methods,” the statement said.
The party has strongly disapproved the pronouncements by different quarters about the continuance of the draconian AFSPA. “The party reiterates its strong opposition to the dreaded law which has already outlived its utility and was now serving only to provide immunity to perpetrators of the actions like the recent one which resulted in the killing of an old man faked as a militant,” the statement said.
“We call upon the prime minister to disallow such threatening announcements by civil servants and officers in uniform which seek to negate the self respect of the people apart from continuing the absence of accountability for security forces. Time has come to dispense with this law as a starting point for improving the situation in the state,” the statement said.
The meeting expressed concern over the “deteriorating governance” in the state, which has forced all sections of society including even its own employees, to protest and demonstrate for even routine services like power, water and rations.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST