JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammed Sayeed yesterday said peace in the subcontinent and the resolution of the Kashmir issue should dominate the national debate rather than the war and confrontation rhetoric against Pakistan.
In a statement issued here, Sayeed expressed concern over statements about the possibility of surgical strikes and war with Pakistan as an option to fight terror in the region.
“The current parliamentary election campaign should not be used to score points about who is more hawkish in its tone and tenor. The competition should in fact be as to who is more forward-looking, peace-loving and development-oriented.”
The patron of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party said the unfortunate Mumbai attacks should not serve as a roadblock to the peace and reconciliation process. Instead, he added, it should further strengthen our resolve to take the peace process ahead, in spite of the challenges.
Meanwhile, two dozen people including five security men were injured in clashes between protesters and the Indian paramilitary, central reserve police force (CRPF) in the heart of Kashmir capital Srinagar yesterday afternoon.
Intense clashes erupted in the city center and adjoining areas that continued even after darkness enveloped the city. Witnesses said some CRPF troopers allegedly roughed up several shopkeepers and passers-by in the Maisuma locality of the summer capital, which is a chronic trouble spot.
Shopkeepers in the area alleged the Indian paramilitary troopers also damaged some shops during their rampage.
The shopkeepers were later joined by the hundreds of local youth of the Maisuma locality who indulged in heavy stone pelting on the CRPF soldiers and its camp located in the adjacent Akhara building, a stones throw from the historic city center, Lal Chowk.
The trouble is stated to have erupted with an altercation between the CRPF troopers and the shopkeepers who had asked the troopers to move a mobile bunker from in front of the shopping line. This had infuriated the CRPF soldiers who went berserk in the area. As the trouble snowballed, police and CRPF fired several warning shots and resorted to baton charges and tear-gassing to quell the trouble which returned to the area after a long gap.
The Maisuma locality is the stronghold of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik who is right now away in Pakistan in connection with his marriage.
High tension has gripped the area and its surrounding localities. The stone-pelting youths made repeated attempts to enter the CRPF camp located in the Akhara building, where paramilitary CRPF troopers are on alert.
In another development, the state government employees yesterday went on a two-day strike across the state, demanding implementation of the sixth pay commission recommendations. Work in government offices across the state came to a halt and in Jammu, even essential services like medical, health care, water supplies and power were affected by the strike.
However, in the Kashmir Valley, services like hospitals and power and water supply were not affected. Hundreds of state government employees took out processions in summer capital Srinagar and at other district headquarters of the Valley, demanding the extension of sixth pay commission benefits to them as admissible to central government employees.
— With input from agencies
