Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Jan 7: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today pitched for peace and reconciliation and said conducive atmosphere in the State will compel India and Pakistan to come together.
Addressing at a function on the first death anniversary of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at Indoor Stadium here, Mehbooba said that 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,” the PDP chief said.
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.
Speaking to reporters the Chief Minister said that they want to bring Jammu and Kashmir out of trouble for carry forward peace and developmental process. “It was dream of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to bring out Jammu and Kashmir from uncertainty and quagmire and unless it happens it is difficult for the State to develop. It is why, he wanted to take forward the development and political process together. Unfortunately, he passed away and now it is me and my party which are taking the developmental and political process forward. I am hopeful we will work on it and bring out Jammu and Kashmir from this quagmire”, she said.
She said that the focus of her Government besides addressing day to day issues is to tackle unemployment. “There are various day to day issues like roads, power, bridges and another is unemployment as large number of youth are unemployed. Our youth are doing excellent job in sports and they are already excelling in the field of education but they are not getting opportunity”, she said.
Mehbooba said that she wants to carry forward the political and developmental process. “Another is to carry forward the political process which Mufti Sahib started in 2005 in which there was talk of dialogue and re-open of roads and was ceasefire. Unfortunately, it was not carried forward. When Mufti Sahib took charge again in 2015, he had to start from zero but didn’t get time. We want conducive atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir. You know three months back a powerful delegation came from Centre and I also wrote a letter but we didn’t get a response. We are making efforts that together we create an atmosphere so that a process starts. First we should start a dialogue within. Our children who should be in schools and at times some elements instead give them stones instead of ball. It will take time and I am hopeful we will carry forward the political process”, she said.
Earlier, the first death anniversary of former Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was observed across the State today with people recalling late leader’s contribution in changing the political discourse in Jammu & Kashmir and putting it on the track of peace, dignity, development and prosperity.
Mehbooba Mufti led the people of the State in paying tributes to the late leader. She visited Bijbehara and paid floral tributes at the grave of the former Chief Minister at Dara Shikoh Park. She offered Fateaha and joined Quran Khwani.
From the early morning people in large numbers, despite inclement weather, were seen arriving at the mausoleum and offering fateh to their leader.
Ministers, MPs, legislators, leaders and workers of PDP and other political parties besides family members of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and people in large numbers were present on the occasion.
To mark the commemoration, a number of functions were slated for the day at Srinagar, Jammu and other district headquarters.
On the occasion at Indoor Stadium, Tasaduq Mufti, the son of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, joined the PDP.
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.
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