Fresh curbs imposed on cross-LoC movement: Mehbooba

Teethwal, LoC, May 29 (UNI) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti today claimed that the authorities have enforced ''unwarranted'' curbs to completely confine the movement of the people across the Line of Control (LoC), thus rendering the confidence building process as ''immaterial and symbolic''.

''Instead of relaxing restrictions on the people travelling across the LoC after the opening of a meeting point at Teethwal, the authorities have reportedly enforced fresh curbs, thus completely confining the movement of the residents,'' Ms Mufti told a public meeting near the LoC here.

She said such restrictive measures were absolutely unwarranted and both the state and the central governments must address the issue as it was a humanitarian problem.

Not only the people, but the two governments should now also allow free movement of goods to make the confidence building process result-oriented, the PDP chief added.

She called for easing restrictions on the cross-LoC movement of the people to make the Confidence Building Measure (CBM) fruitful.

''The knotty procedural delay in the issue of permissions for cross-LoC movement of the divided families has almost rendered the confidence building process immaterial and symbolic,'' she added.

Ms Mufti said she was shocked and astonished to learn that since the opening of the meeting point here for the divided families, only one person had been able to cross over to meet his relatives in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

''It is a cruel joke with these hapless people in the name of CBMs,'' she lamented.

The PDP president said while hundreds of people from the divided families have applied for permission to cross the LoC to meet their near and dear ones, the callous procedural formalities have denied them the opportunity to avail the facility.

The governments on both the sides must ensure hassle-free movement of the people to make the process more fruitful, she added.

Ms Mufti said the meeting point had generated lot of hope and optimism among the locals that the area would once again boom with activity.

But, their hopes have been dashed to the ground by the hassles involved in the movement across the LoC, she added.

Ms Mufti said India-Pakistan bonhomie would be inconsequential unless the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who are the worst victims of their hostility, get benefit from the same. ''If we are not able to change the paranoiac and glacial mindset of the people at the helm of affairs, I don't think the process is going to help the people of the state anyway,'' she added.

Responding to the demands of the locals, the PDP chief said the state government must address the development needs of the people in the border areas and provide them with all the communication facilities including roads and telephones.

She also called for installation of mobile telephone towers in remote areas of the state, which are still unconnected with the rest of the world. Ms Mufti also stressed on the need for speeding up the rehabilitation of the earthquake victims, saying most of them were still living in highly deplorable conditions.

UNI