Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, Nov 8: Senior NC leader Dr Shehnaz Ganai (MLC) while lauding the landmark step taken by India and Pakistan for resumption of travel and trade, stressed on improving communication, connectivity, coordination and people to people contact between the people across Line of Control and appealed the Chief Minister and the Union Government to start the process of people to people contact, as key to resolve controversial issues peacefully, lies in dialogue.
Addressing public meetings at various villages in Mandi area along LoC, Dr Ganai said that over the years, the State has witnessed violence and bitterness and in the areas of conflict there is a need of larger public interaction, reconciliation which would pave way for economic development in the region.
Dr Ganai described poverty, unemployment and corruption as the “biggest enemies” of the people of the neighboring countries and suggested pooling of resources by the two nations in fighting these menaces. She said it is a fact that borders cannot be redrawn but they can certainly be made irrelevant with frequent exchange of people, students, artists and other groups of people, Dr Ganai added.
She further said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the worst sufferers of this hostility as they have to live under perpetual threat to their lives and property and said the only way to prevent the loss of lives and destruction of property and ensure peace along the borders was to revive the spirit of the 2003 ceasefire which had brought new hope of peace and prosperity in the lives of the people along the borders from Kathua to Kargil.
Referring to confidence building measures, Dr Ganai said that it is necessary to reach the place where dialogue, contact and coordination among the people on both sides is enough so that the partition line becomes irrelevant forever.
Ganai, urged the Government, that through a vibrant cross-LoC trade, it is possible to develop the stagnated and backward economy of the state and free it from its dependency.
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