Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 6: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can win the trust, hearts and minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir even as she extended hearty congratulations to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a coalition partner of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the State, on its 38th ‘Foundation Day’.
The Chief Minister also voiced concern over the brutal killing of Manzoor Ahmad Bhat by the militants saying the scourge of terror has hit a new low with the brutality, “which has shocked all of us’’.
Taking to micro-blogging site twitter on 38th ‘Foundation Day’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party with which the PDP has been running coalition Government for past over three years now, Mehbooba extended congratulations to the BJP and lavished praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoping that he can win hearts and minds of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Hearty congratulations to @BJP4India on its Foundation Day. I sincerely hope that India under @narendramodi ji can truly exhibit the moral leadership of the region by winning the trust, hearts & minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,’’ she tweeted.
In his Independence Day Address speech, Modi had declared that the problem of Kashmir will be solved by embracing the people of Jammu and Kashmir and not with bullets or abuses.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party had no specific announcement for Jammu and Kashmir in its ‘Foundation Day’ celebrations, BJP national president Amit Shah at a press conference on the occasion in Mumbai, told a questioner that the militants killed during last four years in the Valley, hadn’t been killed in the past.
Mehbooba hoped that the Prime Minister’s remarks about Kashmir in his Independence Day speech, would be translated into reality by everyone in the country dealing with affairs of the State.
“From media to administration, strategic community and security forces, everyone will have to be part of this national effort. It is high time that enough hope is generated to persuade young men from going on a violent path by creating their stake in peace and life rather than in death and rebellion,’’ she asserted.
Inter-acting with delegations of youth from various parts of the State, Mehbooba appealed to country’s political leadership, cutting across party lines, to listen to the voices of pain from Jammu and Kashmir and support people of the State from getting out of it.
“Peace, reconciliation and dialogue form the core of Agenda of Alliance reached out between the two ruling Alliance partners—the PDP and BJP— and it is the belief in Prime Minister Modi’s leadership abilities and his political clout that the people of the State are looking up to for the resumption of the same. Our State and the whole region expect the Prime Minister to revive the spirit of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s initiative and also expect the other shades of political opinion in the country to avoid falling into the trap of old partisan politics and instead support such an initiative which would get the State out of the uncertainties and herald into an era of progress and development,’’ the Chief Minister said.
Mehbooba said: “a successful peace process in Jammu & Kashmir alone can fulfill the objectives of democracy and justice in the country. India can truly don the moral leadership of the region by increasing the level of satisfaction of the people of the State by winning their trust and hearts and minds’’.
Terming youth as a treasure of the society, the Chief Minister said young boys and girls from the State have scripted many big success stories despite difficult times and many of them are proving their mettle in the country and across the globe.
“Positive energies of our youth can be better harnessed only in an environment of peace and amity,’’ she said, adding “violence in the contemporary world has lost its relevance to resolve issues’’.
On the initiatives of the Government, the Chief Minister said a huge developmental offensive has been unleashed by her Government in the State and also lot of investment is being made by the country in all sectors, including the Prime Minister’s Developmental Package, but the specter of violence and uncertainty prevents it from taking centre stage of the discourse.
The Chief Minister described the killing of Manzoor Ahmad, a youth from Hajin in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, as brutal saying it serves as a reminder of where society is headed. She said “all of us are in shock over the killing’’.
“The brutal killing of young Manzoor Ahmad is highly condemnable but should also serve as a reminder of where society is headed. The scourge of terror has hit a new low as the brutality of this act has left us all in shock,’’ she tweeted.
Condemning beheading of Manzoor Ahmad, who was kidnapped by militants on Wednesday night, Mehbooba said the inhuman way in which the youth was done to death is against the social ethos and cultural value system of people of the State.
Manzoor Ahmad Bhat and his father Abdul Gaffar Bhat were kidnapped by the militants from their house at Hajin in Bandipora district on Wednesday night. While Gaffar had managed to escape, Manzoor was beheaded by the militants and his body was recovered today.
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