Srinagar, November 10 (Scoop News) – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and Former Chief Minister and Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has welcomed outcome of talks between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Addu in Maldives on the sidelines of the 17th SAARC summit today.
Addressing a meeting of party workers of Srinagar district, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed hailed decision of both the countries to start bilateral trade on Most Favoured Nation (MFN) basis. He said that since its formation PDP has been advocating for dialogue with Pakistan and the party though its conviction had earlier convinced both India and Pakistan to start dialogue process.
He further said PDP has been advocating for improving bilateral relations between two countries by starting trade at large scale. He said that announcement made after today’s meeting was another step towards carrying forward the peace process and building of trust between the two neighbours that is important for finding a lasting solution to Jammu and Kashmir. He said the vision of PDP of a tension free South Asia will receive a boost with the concrete measures announced especially with regard to the cross LOC travel and trade.
He said the historic initiative taken by the two governments in 2005 might have remained largely symbolic but it is now unfolding the ultimate vision that had inspired the beginning of Karvan-e-Aman between Srinagar and Muzaffarbad. He hoped that the process of dialogue would be continued for establishing lasting peace in this region.
He said that declaration of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that time has come to write a “new chapter” in the history of two countries by India decides to move towards a Preferential Trade Agreement with Pakistan under SAFTA that will lead to zero customs duty on all traded goods by 2016 was a welcome steps.
Taking a dig at state government for its failure to keep a check on corruption, he said that the present regime has no right to talk about containing corruption because this dispensation has legalized corruption. “How can this government fight corruption if the member of the ruling party receive money for appointment people as Member of the Legislative Council (MLC)?”, he said.
Mufti observed that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah raking up the issue of AFSPA just to divert attention of the people from failure of his government and rampant corruption in the administration. He reminded the workers it was PDP that had raised the demand of revoking AFSPA in 2007 at the highest level.