By IANS,
New Delhi : Jammu and Kashmir’s principal opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to announce an “unconditional dialogue” in Kashmir to resolve the situation in the disturbed state.
“We appeal to the prime minister to go for unconditional dialogue,” PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti told reporters at the end of an all-party meeting on Kashmir that lasted for more than five hours.
She said the prime minister and the separatists should not put conditions before starting a dialogue.
“But the government should release the youth arrested under the Public Safety Act… The curfew, which Kashmiris have been suffering under, should also be lifted,” said Mufti.
On the issue of repealing the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), she said: “We should definitely have something real and concrete, not something which is cosmetic.”
Former prime minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she said, had stated that dialogue should be “within the ambit of humanity”. “We should take note of that.”
She also urged all political parties not to make it a “prestige issue”.
“All parties should rise above their political interest. Let us all join hands and find solution to the complex Kashmir problem.”
The PDP leader said that the people of Kashmir should “see the more human face of the country… After all, it’s a democracy.”