Mehbooba refutes Omar's allegation

Srinagar, Nov 2 (UNI) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti today said her party was not carrying forward any agenda of India or Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Refuting the charges leveled against her party by National Conference (NC) President Omar Abdullah at a news conference yesterday, she said the PDP has come into existence to plead the right cause of people of Jammu and Kashmir to live a dignified life and achieve long-lasting peace in the state.

Addressing a day-long party convention here, Ms Mufti said her party will push with full vigour and sincerity its agenda for peaceful, dignified and realistic solution of the Kashmir issue.

Acknowledging the generous financial assistance extended by the Centre for rebuilding infrastructure and rejuvenating the 'sluggish' economy of the state, she stressed the need for complimenting it with sustained political initiatives to evolve a consensus on the need for resolving the problem through peaceful means.

The PDP president said at this moment a joint, concerted and comprehensive effort was imperative to make Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh politically stable and economically strong and integrate it with the developing global market economy.

''Initiatives taken during the past four years of the coalition government in the state have transformed the public mindset in the sub-continent and laid the foundation for reconciliation and cooperation,'' she added.

Ms Mufti said a defining moment has come for making the ongoing peace process in Jammu and Kashmir more meaningful and add substance to it by addressing the specifics.

Highlighting the broader contours of the self-rule formula being put forth by her party, she said it was the most viable solution to resolve the Kashmir tangle.

Seeking massive support for the PDP's self-rule proposal, Ms Mufti said it would bring an ultimate end to the miseries of the people of the state and extend them an opportunity to lead a dignified life full of promise and hope.

UNI AG SI ND1748