By News Agency of Kashmir
Jammu: Cautioning about any panic reaction or hawkish rhetoric about recent upsurge in violence across the state, former chief minister and chief patron Peoples Democratic Party Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has said that such incident should not be allowed to hamper peace process.
Addressing party convention, here today, Sayeed said, “Such disruptive acts must in no way deter us from our resolve of increasing the people’s stakes in the peace process as trust in people would be the eventual rebuff to the perpetrators of violence”.
What is needed most at this crucial juncture, he said, is the political courage and wisdom any panic reaction or hawkish rhetoric would do no good to the people of the State and the country.
Fortunately, Sayeed said there is growing recognition within the region that pursuing the same old Kashmir policies is doing more harm than good. In this paradigm, he said the country’s leadership will have to confront the challenge with bold and decisive initiatives instead of reverting to same glacial and hackneyed bureaucratic policies on Kashmir.
“The only way to pull the State out of the morass is that the political leadership of the country and the State must take charge of the situation and not allow the vested interests to spoil the gains of the peace process,” he said and added that if the present promising opportunity for peace is lost in hawkish positioning, lawlessness and anarchy may once again become the regime.
Reiterating the demand of troops reduction, Sayeed said that the over-exposure of the troops in the state is now proving counter-productive and the country must take note of this disadvantageous trend.
“Every single day counts and any further delay in the reduction of troops is going to put the whole peace process in the reverse gear,” he said and added the fact that for the first time, since independence, army in Jammu and Kashmir has recently been exposed to criticism and public anger over some of its actions, is an alarming measure of the resurrecting alienation