National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Tuesday called for a collective approach to restore peace and normalcy in the Kashmir Valley by addressing its political problems, saying this is necessary for lasting peace in the State.The spirit generated by the Mr Omar Abdullah led united opposition’s meeting with the Prime Minister needs to be sustained and carried forward to end the sufferings of people in the Valley and to create an atmosphere of trust, which can pave way for finding a last solution as expressed by the Prime Minister during the meet”, Mr Rana said while interacting with party workers in his Nagrota Assembly Constituency.The Provincial President said that reconciliation and not confrontation was the only way out to steer the Valley from the present grave situation. He hoped the ruling dispensation will shun political myopism and help in creating an atmosphere wherein solution to the problem is found collectively.
Referring to the proposed visit of All Party Delegation to the Valley later this week, which he described as a positive outcome of the initiatives of Jammu and Kashmir Opposition-Prime Minister meet, the Provincial President said the opportunity should be availed to highlight the political issues in right perspective. He called for national consensus over solving the Kashmir problem and hoped that myopic or reactionary political approach will not prevail over the discourse.He said the people have suffered most during 54 days of turbulent situation with a number of precious lives lost and thousands injured. “The pain of Kashmir is equally being felt in Jammu and we want the political parties to appreciate the gravity of the situation and rise above party politics and work together to find out a solution acceptable to all stake-holders, which could lead to sustainable peace in the State”, he said, adding that National Conference would continue to play its assigned role in this behalf.
“National Conference has a proven record of sacrifice in maintaining religious amity and regional unity even during most testing times of history and we will be always in the forefront to meet the challenges to preserve this glorious heritage”, Mr Rana said, hoping this spirit will prevail in the political discourse of the State.Rana said the disturbed conditions in the Valley have taken toll of the governance, which in any case was at the lowest ebb, and expressed concern over accumulating problems to people on developmental and utility services fronts. He said the administrative inertia is galore due to lack of political direction and people were suffering with their chosen representatives in the government showing immense degree of indifference. “Except for photo-ops the presence of political executives is nowhere to be seen”, he said. (CNS)