Home India Politics Young MPs appeal to Kashmiri youth for calm

Young MPs appeal to Kashmiri youth for calm

By IANS,

New Delhi: A day after Home Minister P. Chidambaram stressed on dialogue as the way forward for addressing the problems in Kashmir, a group of 40 young MPs from across the spectrum Thursday appealed to the youth in the Valley to “exercise restraint” and put their trust in a dialogue for working out a solution.

“What has happened in the recent past has been very unfortunate and we are deeply concerned…we urge our young brothers and sisters in J and K to exercise restraint and have trust in the power of dialogue,” the joint appeal said.

“The future belongs to our generation. We, the young parliamentarians belonging to your generation, sincerely hope for a bright shared future for you and for all of us,” the MPs

said in the statement.

Releasing the statement in Parliament House complex, Congress member Priya Dutt told reporters that the MPs were deeply concerned over the loss of lives in the Valley.

The signatories included Congress MPs Milind Deora and Jyoti Mirdha, Anurag Thakur of the BJP, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Shatabdi Roy of the Trinamool Congress, Supriya Sule of the NCP and Bhavna Gavli of the Shiv Sena.

The appeal came close on the heels of 10 BJP legislators from Jammu and Kashmir meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. Accompanied by senior BJP leaders, they expressed concern over the situation in the border state and alleged that the Omar Abdullah government has failed to deal with the situation.

On Wednesday, a group of senior Congress leaders from Jammu and Kashmir met the prime minister to discuss the issue. The group, believed to be close to Health Minsiter Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former Kashmir chief minister, also sought a change of guard in the state to effectively deal with the situation.

A youth was killed Thursday in firing by security forces in Kashmir, while a 50-year man died in hospital of injuries sustained Wednesday, taking to 48 the toll in the cycle of violence sweeping the Valley since June.