PDP leader calls for talks with Pak, separatists

A senior leader of the ruling PDP in Jammu and Kashmir today urged the Union government to address the issues troubling the state by resuming dialogue with "all the stakeholders" including separatists, and with Pakistan.
The Centre must address issues concerning the state with a sense of urgency, sincerity and seriousness by resuming talks "not only with Pakistan, but with all the stakeholders, within the state as well, including the separatists," PDP leader Peerzada Mansoor said at a party convention in south Kashmir.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rules Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party, which forms the government at the Centre.

Mansoor said besides working through political means and implementing an economic development agenda, the central government must engage with the people of the state to find a lasting solution to the issues confronting Jammu and Kashmir.
Mansoor, the vice chairman of J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board, called for a political will and broader consensus to address the issues, Kashmir has suffered for too long to be turned into a "slanging match" for political gains.
Instead of indulging in competitive political rhetoric, the state's political leadership should work through tangible measures towards addressing the larger challenges confronting Jammu and Kashmir, especially its youth, he said.

He said opposition and separatists will have to think how to avoid further loss of lives and destruction of properties.
The time has come to fully retrieve the people of the state "with honor and dignity intact", from the political uncertainties and economic deprivation plaguing them, he said.
"PDP will continue its struggle for the restoration of the political and economic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and its alliance with BJP is part of the vision of late leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to find a way out of the problems confronting the people," he said.