Srinagar, September 17 (Scoop News)- Regretting that the congenial atmosphere for a resolution of J&K problem created painstakingly by the previous coalition had been undone, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said striving for power is only one aspect of politics in the state. Addressing a workers convention of the party in Beerwah constituency today he said while it was a legitimate right of political parties to seek people’s mandate for government formation the larger issue of bringing a peaceful resolution of Jammu & Kashmir problem cannot be avoided without complicating matters further. Senior party leader & Vice President PDP Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Former finance minister Tariq Hameed Karra, Dr Mohd Shafi MLA, District president Saifudin Bhat, Aga Mohd Yousuf , Zone President Hissamudin Bandey, Gulzar Ahmad, Dr Raja Muzaffar, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Shahnawaz Ah, Tanveer Ahmad and others were also present and spoke on this occasion.
Mufti said it was a painful fact that the atmosphere of trust and reconciliation that had been built to some extent with establishment of communication lines at different levels between India and Pakistan and our state and rest of the country had suffered immensely during the last four years owing to lack of political direction. He said instead of building on those gains the present dispensation had reversed every policy to help its survival. “The trust deficit between the government and people had increased as a result of maladministration, corruption and breakdown of political contact” he said.
Mufti said while the state government has been unable to project the aspirations of people before the central government effectively for speeding up resolution process, internally it has resorted to most undemocratic methods to deal with the sentiments of disaffection. Opposition leaders like Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Shabir Shah, Nayeem Khan and other Hurriyat leaders a routinely caged and prevented even from offering prayers he said. “Is our democratic system so weak that we should use police and prison instead of dialogue and debate to carry out the battle of ideas that it actually is” Mufti asked and said this was a complete reversal of what had been achieved by his government after decades of denial of freedom of speech in the state.
Mufti said J&K had been opened up to people to people contact with the areas across LOC which saw groups of businessmen, journalists and opinion makers visiting each other almost as a routine. He said the opening of routes for travel and trade across LOC represented the first major concession to the people of the state and it should have been followed up effectively to take it to the next level of our vision for a Free Economic Zone. “But instead of following the positive and result oriented policies this government only squeezed space for dialogue, victimized youth and political opponents and surrendered state’s prestige, authority and resources” Mufti added. He said PDP with the support of people would strive for revival of the peace process between India and Pakistan and center and the state to bring an end to our miseries.
Mufti said that the lack of transparency and accountability is the reason for collapsed governance in the state. The PDP patron recalled that PDP led regime in the state had streamlined functioning of the government by bringing total transparency and accountability in the governance. “There was no pick and choose policy during PDP led regime,” he said, adding that all the regions and sub-regions were being treated equally during his tenure as the chief minister.
Mufti, however, regretted that the present dispensation has failed to bring transparency and accountability in the government and the regime has been adopting pick and choose policy in sanctioning funds for developmental activities. He especially mentioned that instead of treating all regions equally, the government was discriminating different areas in allotting funds for developmental activities on the basis of political affiliations of the people.
Reiterating PDP’s resolve to pursue the pro-peace agenda forcefully, Mufti said it was only during the regime of PDP that dignity and honour of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was restored. He said PDP had pioneered a peace and reconciliation process which was endorsed by the successive regimes at New Delhi.
Mufti hailed recent decisions taken in the meeting of Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan. He, however, argued that there was a need of taking some Confidence Building Measures for facilitating cross LoC trade and travel. “We have to carry forward the process of peace in this region,” he asserted saying that the peace process started during PDP regime was irreversible.