STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Pitching for peace and reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir on the first death anniversary of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said a “good atmosphere” in the state will compel India and Pakistan to come together.
The PDP chief said the peace process should start in the state and “first we should talk within us” as “our people are fighting against each other”.
“I request you to stand united. The relations between India and Pakistan are bad but they cannot remain the same always.
“Both the nations have to live and die together. We have to create such a good atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir that India and Pakistan are compelled to come together,” Mehbooba said here.
She was addressing PDP workers at a function on the first death anniversary of her father and former Chief Minister Sayeed.
Mehbooba said Jammu and Kashmir bears the direct brunt of animosity between India and Pakistan.
“There is a direct impact of that on the situation here… (but) the enmity is not going to continue,” she said.
The Chief Minister said Sayeed always wanted to take the state out of “this morass because till we do not get out of this difficulty, development is not possible”.
“That is why he wanted to take the developmental process forward along with the political process,” she said, adding she and her party are trying to implement his programme which is part of the agenda for alliance with BJP.
“I am confident that we will work on that agenda and take J-K out of this morass,” she said.
She said there were a number of issues to work on like water, power and ration and the “biggest” one of unemployment but “all this comes to a standstill when our political process stops”. “The political process started by Sayeed in his first term from 2002-05 saw dialogue. Roads were opened and there was a good atmosphere between India and Pakistan, there was ceasefire.
“But because of the governments here and in Delhi, that process could not be taken forward,” she lamented
The Chief Minister said Sayeed had to “start from zero” when he took over the reins of the state again in 2015 but unfortunately he could not complete the task.
Mehbooba said that her government is now trying to bring back on track the peace process and noted that she had written to separatists to meet the parliamentary delegation which visited the state last year.
“But we did not get a desired response. I am trying that together we create such a situation so that a process is started.
“First we should talk within us. Our people are fighting against each other. Our children should be in schools, with pens in their hands. Sometimes, certain elements thrust stones in their hands in place of bats and balls.
“It will take time and we are hopeful of succeeding,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba rolled out an ambitious Rs 45-crore project for the development of the revered Hazratbal Shrine and its adjoining areas on the banks of the popular Dal Lake.
The project aims to construct tensile structures for prayers during summer and monsoon, four-laning of ‘dargah’ entrance, illuminating the shrine complex, underground ablution spaces, dormitory for devotees, re-developing dargah market, an Islamic Cultural Centre and a sewerage treatment plant for the shrine complex, an official spokesman said here.
Mehbooba said her government plans to develop facilities in Srinagar so that the city could be promoted as a tourism destination, thereby contributing to the local economy.
She said there was a need to protect nd upgrade the several shrines, mosques and places of heritage in the city to attract tourists.
Mehbooba asked the project executing agencies to employ locals for labour and other components of the project.
Earlier, Secretary, Tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah briefed the chief minister on the project. He said Rs 110 crore have been earmarked for tourism-related projects in Srinagar.
Tasaduq Mufti joins PDP
Srinagar: Tasaduq Mufti, the son of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, on Saturday joined the ruling People’s Democratic Party at a function to commemorate his father’s first death anniversary.
Tasaduq, a famed cinematographer, joined the party in the presence of his sister and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who was there along with her cabinet and party colleagues.
In his brief speech at the function, Tasaduq thanked the party workers for their love and affection towards PDP. “I have remained aloof from politics all my life. But today I have joined the PDP officially and it is a very important day of my life. I will walk with you and take your aspirations along,” he told the party men.
He said his dream was to clean up politics in Kashmir.
“I have felt the pace of government work. The speed with which work happens here, what dream can be realised?” he asked.
Welcoming her brother into the party fold, Mehbooba said Tasaduq — like his father, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed — has a dream to do something for Jammu and Kashmir.
“Tasaduq has his own identity and his own work. No one in Mumbai knew him as Mufti Sayeed’s son till his second term (as chief minister). Like his father, he wants to do something for Jammu and Kashmir,” she said in her address.
Known for his cinematography in movies like Omkara and Kaminey, Tasaduq is an American Film Institute graduate. He is known in Bollywood as Tassaduq Hussain and does not use the famous Mufti surname.
