Srinagar: National Conference President and Member Parliament from Srinagar Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Saturday called upon both India and Pakistan to take effective and urgent measures to restore peace along the Line of Control (LoC).
Asserting that the primary concern of both India and Pakistan must be to ensure safety and security of civilians on both sides of LoC, Abdullah said, “People on either side of LoC have become the primary targets of border skirmishes and are facing the brunt of cross border hostilities between the two nuclear powered countries. It therefore becomes more important for India and Pakistan to follow the tenets of 2003 ceasefire agreement in letter and spirit.”
He made these comments on the sidelines of his four day tour to border areas of North Kashmir which commenced from Saturday. After getting re elected as Party President, Abdullah started his first public outreach programme of the state from Karnah Kupwara. He will be visiting border areas of Tangdar, Teetwal, Keran and Machhil areas of Kupwara over the next four days to take stock of the situation and register the grievances of general public besides addressing various rallies in these areas.
He is accompanied by senior party leaders including party Vice President Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, former Minister Mir Saifullah, District President Kupwara Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, ex MLA Kafeel ur Rehman and other local party office bearers.
In the first leg of his tour, Abdullah visited Chahckoot, Teetwal areas where he met a number of public delegations. Later, he also interacted with border dwellers and visited a number of households in the area.
Taking a firsthand account of the problems faced by people in the area, Abdullah rued the absence of governance in these areas.
“It pains me to see the abysmal condition of people living in these areas. There seems to be no outreach from government to address the problems of people living in the area. The present government has to get its act together and ensure that these people get access to basic facilities including decent healthcare which is shockingly nowhere to be seen.”
On the occasion, Abdullah impressed upon both India and Pakistan to ensure hassle free movement of people from both sides of LoC.
“It has come to our notice that unnecessary hurdles are being created to stop people from meeting their relatives on either side of LoC. This has to stop and government must take a lead in providing travel and necessary documents from the concerned authorities to those who intend to travel. So far the present government has miserably failed in addressing such genuine demands,” he said.
(With inputs from KNS)
