Srinagar, Aug 14: The Governor, NN Vohra, has called upon all political parties, social, cultural and religious organizations and all other stakeholders in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to work together closely for restoring normalcy and achieving the goal of peace, progress and prosperity in the State.
In a message on the eve of August 15, the Governor has stressed the importance of every element of the civil society urgently organising itself to play a proactive role in promoting sanity and harmony.
The Governor observed that due to sad happenings in Kashmir in the past two months, normalcy of life in the Valley has continued to be disrupted by an unending series of stone pelting protestations, burning of public property and attacks on the law enforcement agencies.
These incidents, he said, have led to continuing confrontations with the security forces and generated a cycle of violence which have resulted in a large number of persons losing their lives, many of whom were young men and even women and children.
He said that whatever may have been the whys and wherefors of the obtaining disorder, the loss of lives is an extremely sad consequence. He expressed his deep sympathy with the families who have lost their near and dear ones in this tumult. He said that the security forces, whose personnel have also suffered significant injuries, need to revisit their strategies and tactics of crowd control for securing maximum protection of human life.
The Governor referred to the recent natural calamity in Leh and its surrounding areas causing huge loss of life and property, and conveyed his heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families.
Referring to the obtaining situation in the Kashmir Valley, the Governor said that all those involved in the recent protestations, and the various political, religious and other elements who support their cause, must recognize that the cycle of violence has resulted only in causing loss and grief and further enhancing cynicism and despair. Such tragic losses, he said, must not continue to occur. He emphasized that all necessary steps to restore peace and normalcy must be taken on the most immediate basis, adding that once normalcy is effectively restored a purposeful dialogue must commence with all those who have been agitating in the past months. The Centre, on its part, would need to early launch and vigorously pursue a sustained political initiative in J&K, he added.
The Governor said that our liberal democratic framework allows enormous scope for divergent viewpoints and various differences can and must be resolved through sustained dialogue and discussion and not through confrontations and violence. He said that a pragmatic initiative for early resolving the political issues which concern the people of the State needs to be carried forward. Multiple meaningful dialogues are also required to be carried out among all the divergent groups and between them and the mainstream political parties in the State.
The Governor said that while taking every step to immediately restore normalcy we must also keep in mind the continuing threats from across the LoC and the very high danger of inimical elements from across exploiting a disturbed environment in the State.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST