KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
National Conference’s working president Omar Abdullah Wednesday said that the GOI needs to engage people who don’t see a solution within the constitution of India.
Talking to a delegation from the Canadian High Commission lead by Jess Dutton, Deputy High Commissioner of Canada who is on an official visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India was on the basis of an understanding based on Defence, Foreign affairs, Communication and Currency, and as such everything else would be the domain of the state, adding “but over the time this has been whittled down.”
Stating that the NC’s roadmap is the only way forward, Omar said, “our roadmap is clear, that you can’t have a one sided agreement, wherein Jammu and Kashmir continues to remain a part of India but the terms on which the accession took place you distort.”
“Therefore they need to restore to the fullest extent possible the autonomous position that existed between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country.”
On the international front to address this vexed issue, Omar Abdullah told the Canadian delegation that for a solution to take place, one has to ensure that neither side claims victory. “We will have to ensure more freedom of movement and allow greater movement of goods across the border, to start with,” he said.
Given the president of India has spoken thrice in three weeks on fringe attacks, Omar said it is an indication of the gravity of the situation. “Better late than never,” he said, “one hopes that the government in the centre wakes up to the damage that is being done and seeks to correct it.”
Omar said the security environment has gone from bad to worse in state, “as the number of youngsters joining the ranks of militancy is actually alarming. These are internally created problem and the government need to seriously look into it.”
