'3 pronged strategy to address Kashmir issue'

Srinagar, Sep 8: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today told visiting former Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice that the Centre and the state government had initiated a three-pronged strategy to address the vexed Kashmir issue. Lord Alderdice, who is also Member Independent Monitoring Commission, Northern Ireland, called on Mr Azad here this morning. He evinced interest in the dialogue process and development initiatives taken by the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Lord informed the Chief Minister that he had worked for 11 years as the leader of a political party in Northern Ireland engaged in dialogue, which ultimately resulted in peace there.

Mr Azad told the visiting dignitary that a reconciliation and dialogue process had been initiated with Pakistan, which was on the right track. However, the situation in Pakistan has resulted in a temporary setback to the process, he added.

The Chief Minister said the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee were likely to visit Pakistan.

He expressed the hope that the situation in Pakistan would soon normalise to let the two neighbouring countries pick up threads from where these had been left before March this year.

Mr Azad informed Lord Alderdice the government had also started dialogue with political parties and groups in Jammu and Kashmir. The Prime Minister chaired three round-table conferences in which all political shades of the state took part.

The Prime Minister constituted five working groups to address various issues relating to good governance, Centre-state relations, travel across LoC and the people-to-people contact, balanced economic development within the state, he added.

The Chief Minister said talks have also been started with separatist leadership to address the Kashmir issue. When asked about development measures taken by the government in Jammu and Kashmir, he said for the first time in post-independence history of the state, political and development issues were being addressed simultaneously.

The Prime Minister's reconstruction programme was launched to transform the economic profile of the state, Mr Azad said, adding thousands of crores of rupees worth development projects had been initiated by the Centre in the state especially in power, road, health, drinking water and education sectors.

On the human rights situation, he told the visiting dignitary that there was considerable improvement. The government had made it clear to its security agencies that human rights violations were not acceptable and any such abuse would be severely dealt with according to the law, the Chief Minister asserted.

Whenever any incident was reported, the government took cognizance and proceeded against the accused, he said and cited the instance of Ganderbal fake encounter in which responsible police officials, including a Senior Superintendent of Police, were put behind the bars with a case of murder registered against them.

Mr Azad said the Army had also court-martial and dismissed from service several errant soldiers. During the current year, no custodial disappearance had taken place in the state, he added.

Lord Alderdice appreciated the three-pronged strategy adopted by the government to address the Kashmir issue, saying his experience showed that there was no alternative to dialogue in finding a solution to a problem despite the process being very time consuming.

The Lord said he had visited several places of turmoil to explore common things and how the problems could be resolved. The purpose of his visit to Kashmir was in the same backdrop, he added.

The Lord described Kashmir as an extremely beautiful land with its people being very hospitable and friendly.

UNI