KL Report
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has requested Pakistan to respect the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) as retaliation from the Indian side could lead to an unending exchange of fire between the sides.
“I request them (Pakistan) to respect the ceasefire. We also have guns and mortars. If we also start firing, where will this stop?” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Kashmir University here. Chief minister was responding to a question about the killing of three youth in Uri on Tuesday by the cross firing between Indian and Pakistani troops.
Earlier describing inculcation of futuristic approach and attitude in youth as the mantra of success and progress, Chief Minister asked the passed out students from Kashmir University to utilize the joyous occasion of receiving degrees as a platform to soar high and achieve new highs.
In his address to the students of Kashmir University at the special award ceremony of Annual Convocation-2012, Omar Abdullah told them to girdle their loins and face challenges of a new world, they are entering, with capacity and caliber.
“You are on the cusp and verge of entering a world which stands redefined and unrecognizable from what your parents and forebears knew and experienced,” he said asking them not to be faze by this situation instead brace themselves to tackle difficulties and challenges.
“Success and progress in this world is contingent upon delving into the unknown, culling opportunity from where none apparently exists, exploring new vistas and a certain restlessness and inquisitiveness. In combination with intellectual capabilities which your education has imbued you with, imbibing these qualities and making these as the sine qua non in your life, would equip you with skills to take on this world”, he elaborated.
“Armed with qualities and skills, you can pick and choose from your quivers and armory the best darts and arrows to throw at the challenges that you will face,” Chief Minister said and added that the world demands initiative and entrepreneurial zest and verve from youth. He said that the days when a university education would command a premium for passed out student in the job markets guaranteeing jobs, are gone.
“The nature of the relationship between labour markets, the markets and the absorptive capacity of the State has changed. The commanding heights of the economy held, at one point in time by the State have now given way to a combination of markets and the State. This structural transformation means that the State is no longer the repository of jobs. It plays an ancillary, supporting and enabling role. This meshes with the nature of the world we live in. The answer to this challenge is individual initiative and entrepreneurial verve. Equipped with knowledge, you, as the future productive members of the society, should come up with what is the currency of this word – ‘ideas’. The state will nurture and incubate the best of these”, he said.
Omer Abdullah said, “the nature of the ideas and ideational premises that are relevant are the ones that throw into relief the problems of society in the realms of economics, culture, society, politics, business and offer creative and innovative solutions to these. And knowledge centers of this world are universities, schools of learning and research centers of excellence. Its lingua franca is bits, bytes and zeros. The nesting place of this world is imagination and the crucible of ideas and their force is both the real world and the world of cyberspace, networks and linkages between these”.
Asking the students to concentrate on future with pragmatic approach, Chief Minister told them that future matters for them significantly and their gaze must be fixed on it.
“Inculcating this futuristic approach and attitude is the mantra of success and progress in this world”, he added
