Srinagar: The People’s Conference (PC) on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to political parties from Jammu and Kashmir for talks and hoped that the engagement would evolve into “something much bigger” and facilitate empowerment of the people of the union territory.
The PC, led by Sajad Gani Lone, said there is a need for involving all stakeholders to script a new social contract between Delhi and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
A PC spokesperson said Lone chaired a meeting of the party leaders which discussed in detail the overall political scenario and ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides emphasising on the need for the political class to play a constructive role vis-à-vis ending the prevalent logjam and finding durable and democratic solutions to all the challenges facing the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The participants expressed their appreciation for the initiative of the prime minister and hoped that this engagement would evolve into something much bigger and facilitate return to democracy and empowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the spokesperson said.
He said the participants insisted that the chairman of the party convey unequivocally “the pain and suffering” of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“However, they also emphasised on the need for creative thinking to address the pain and suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and hoped that the engagement will be positive, decisive and result-oriented,” the spokesperson said.
“The leaders unanimously stressed on the need to script a new social contract between Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir to address the aspirations of the people of the union territory,” he said.
“It is imperative to restore the credibility and sanctity of the institution of dialogue. There is a lot of pain and suffering prevalent in J&K. There are many harsh ground realities that the prime minister should be aware of. We feel that we must express and inform the PM of our pain and suffering,” they said.
The PC leaders said as political workers, they are duty-bound to facilitate movement towards restoration of democracy and empowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
