SRINAGAR, JULY 28 (PTK): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday pressed for the inclusion of Hurriyat Conference leaders in talks over Kashmir.
She was addressing the mega gathering of nearly twelve thousand people who had assembled in SK Park on the eve of party’s 19th foundation day. Mehbooba Mufti said, ”The PDP took initiative for the ceasefire during Ramzan. I appeal to the Centre to show a positive attitude towards Hurriyat and aim to bring them to the table to start a dialogue.”
Mehbooba Mufti said that, “PDP took initiative for ceasefire during Ramzan. I appeal to the Centre to show positive attitude towards Hurriyat & aim to bring them at the table to start”.
Mehbooba in her address said the call of dialogue issued by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan in his victory speech is a vital opportunity for both the countries to remove the pending issues amicably and that Prime Minister Modi must respond to this call with utmost positivity. She added that this opportunity needs to be grabbed at an earliest so that the dream of a peaceful South Asia is realised without any further delay.
“Pakistan is getting a new government, a new prime minister. He has made an offer of friendship. I want to appeal PM Modi to respond to the offer positively,” said Mehbooba at the PDP raising day function in Srinagar. Mehbooba made a fervent appeal to Prime Minister Modi to respond to Imran Khan’s call for sustainable dialogue process between the two countries at the earliest.
Mehbooba said that Article 345-A is a challenge for all Kashmiri political parties. She appealed to all the parties to set aside differences and fight together to defend the Article.
“All the parties should set aside differences and defend the article the way we did during past two years,” she said. Thanking her party workers who had turned up at the function, Mehbooba said: “I remained silent during past two years. But today I will talk to you. But you are the workers of my party. Who else to tell other than you. My father and I are indebted to you,” she said.
She also said that she didn’t compromise on any issue during her two years as chief minister of the state. “As many times I met PM Modi I asked him to initiate dialogue with Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference. I told centre to release Hurriyat leaders from NIA custody so that peace will prevail in Kashmir,” she said.
Demanding that the Indo-Pak trade needs to be further promoted and encouraged, the PDP president said in her speech that the time has come when both the countries should play a vital role in transforming Jammu and Kashmir into a bridge of friendship between the two countries and more confidence-building measures are taken for achieving the objective. She also demanded the opening of the silk route and people to people contact between the fragmented parts of the state.
The PDP president added that the party in unison again pledges to follow the agenda for which foundation of the PDP was laid in the year 1999 by the party founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “And therefore, we are once again here to tell it to the world that we will follow the path and the footsteps of our beloved leader and take the state to the new scales of peace, prosperity and development,” Mehbooba said.
Mehbooba also highlighted the major landmark achievements of development of the PDP government, remarking that the projects that were kept in limbo by the previous regimes were executed and completed on war footing basis. “Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a massive development in the sectors of education, rural development, construction of highways, roads and bridges, construction of hostels, colleges, establishment of two cluster universities in Jammu and in Srinagar, scarping of the stamp duties for women of Jammu and Kashmir and revival of the sports in all the three regions of the state,” she said.
On the occasion, besides thousands of people, party workers and activists all the legislators, senior leaders, district presidents and zonal presidents were present including Fayaz Mir, Nazir Ahmad Laway, Abdul Rahman Veeri, Ghulam Nabi lone Hanjura, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Javaid Mustafa Mir, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Asiya Naqash, Syed Faroooq Andrabi, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Raja Manzoor, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Yawar Mir, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, Mohammad Yusuf Bhat, Abdul Rahim Rather, Anjum Fazili, Naeem Akhtar, Sartaj Madni, Dilwar Mir, Peerzada Mansoor Hussain Sohrwadhy, Nizam ud din Bhat, Safeena Beigh, Mufti Sajad, Abdul Hameed Kosheenm Raja Aijaz, Sofi Abdul Gaffer, Dr Mohammad Shafi Wani, Waheed-ur-Rahman Para, Bashir Ahmad Mir, Irshad Rasool Kar, Nazir Ahmad Khan and Javaid Mirchal.
Besides the party present, those who addressed the people include Muzzafar Hussain Beigh, Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Mehboob Beg, Rafi Ahmad Mir and Syed Altaf Bukhari. (PTK)
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