KL Report
SRINAGAR
PDP leader Mufti Sayeed has said that India can emerge as a super power only if the country’s leadership makes tangible forward movement in resolving issues with Pakistan including the Kashmir issue.
“India can attain the position of super power only if it improves ties with Pakistan by resolving all the unsettled issues including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mufti told election rallies in Rajpora, Shopian and Wachi.
Kashmir issue, he said, has jeopardized not only political stability in the region, but is hampering progress on economic fronts including enhanced regional cooperation for trade and commerce. “If India and Pakistan resolve the issue amicably, it will lead to a momentous turnaround in the region’s geopolitical situation,” he said.
Asserting that PDP would act as a fortress to defend state’s distinct identity and would not allow any dilution in its special status, Mufti said it would counter the designs of the divisive forces.
“I am today seeking votes not just to form the new government, but to win in the crusade for restoring J&K to its rightful place,” Mufti said. “We can save the State from the future miseries of the misrule and anarchy which was rampant during the past 6 years.”
Mufti said his party’s agenda adequately responds to J&K’s complex problems: decades of political uncertainty, development deficit, unfulfilled aspirations, mounting unemployment, corruption, nepotism and favoritism. He promised a new era of growth if voted to power with emphasis on horticulture, region’s main bread and butter.
Addressing the rallies noted economist, Dr Haseeb Drabu said J&K is poised to hand-over the baton of governance to the youth, who would bring new blood and fresh energy with them. He said it is with this objective in mind that PDP has given mandate to several young politicians for the upcoming assembly elections so that they can represent the aspirations and urges of the State’s youth better.
He said job creation will remain thrust area for the next government. A
PDP with a decisive mandate, he said, would create a firm resource base for the state to be able to fund its infrastructural development and generation of employment. He said, unfortunately, these resources like water and power have, so far, have been bartered away by successive National Conference governments for the sake of chair.
“We would need a decisive mandate and support of the people, especially my young brothers and sisters, to carry forward PDP’s pro-people agenda with fresh momentum,” Drabu said and added that although three year is a very short period but PDP during its tenure between 2002 and 2005 had set an example of accountable, democratic and transparent system of governance in the State, which would be revived in 2015.
