Srinagar, May 27: The Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti has said that emergence of her party on the political scene of the state had lent credibility to the political system and the party could never compromise on its core agenda.
 Addressing a workers’ convention at Qaimoh Homshalibugh of Kulgam district, she said the party had shown through its trend-setting actions on political and governance fronts how governments could bring in change in the lives of the people. 
 “When it came to giving up power the PDP didn’t think twice,” she said and added the party had given a new direction to political and development processes in the state. This, she said had established the credibility of the party and set new standards of governance for other parties as well. “The present coalition has failed to come up to these standards of political conduct and governance which was creating a feeling of crises in the state.”
 She said reconciliation and stability can return to the state and the South Asian region only through final resolution of the problem of Jammu & Kashmir. She said the political uncertainty and alienation among people have curbed the potential of growth of the state and its people.
 Mehbooba said Jammu & Kashmir with its large considerable resource base could have been developed as a model for rest of the sub-continent, “but unfortunately our energies have been consumed in sorting out political issues. While the people have been trying to fight the battle at one level, on the ground our resources, political authority, respect, dignity were constantly usurped.”
 Mehbooba said it was a positive sign that a middle ground was emerging on the political scenario of the state about the problems faced by majority of the people. She said over deployment of troops and their immunity under AFSPA was a major issue which should be addressed by the Government of India with political will rather than dealing with it on purely bureaucratic inputs.
 She said the issue of the water resources was now becoming a hot topic of debate and it was encouraging that people have started understanding the disastrous implications of the injudicious terms of agreement with the NHPC. She said NC had handed over major power projects to NHPC without caring for the interest of the state which had been reduced to a begging bowl.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 27 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 27 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 IST