Govt Welcomes Statements By India, Pak Army Chiefs

Jammu—Welcoming the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s statement that gun was not a solution and neither the Army nor the militants would achieve their goals through it in Kashmir, the State Government on Monday said this is the pertinent expression of the overwhelming sentiment in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It is a welcome announcement coinciding with a similar assertion made by General Rawat’s Pakistani counterpart, General Qamar JavedBajwa, and it is something the people of J&K, entangled in blood-spattered violence, have been longing for years,” Minister for Works and the State Government spokesman Naeem Akhtar said today.

Akhtar said it has been the present Coalition Government’s persistent endeavor right from the beginning to see that the people of the state are pulled out of the quagmire of death and destruction. “It is now for all the stakeholders, even those with differing political ideologies, to join this new moment of peace and reconciliation through emerging positive discourse,” he said.

Akhtar said that those trying to seek political objectives through gun must realize that when violence enters a discourse it not only destroys the lives, but the social fabric, the economy, the culture and civilization of the same society that perpetuates it. “Guns havenot solved any problem or issue in the world and only dialogue and reconciliation isthe way forward,” he said and added that there is a need to build on the Army Chief’s statement and strengthen the process by initiating more political measures and engaging every section of the society in order to ensure sustainable peace in J&K,” he said.

Dignified peace through reconciliation, he said, was the only way to improve the situation in Kashmir that had been witnessing death and destruction for about three decades now.

It’s Moral Victory: Geelani; Time To  Capitalize : Mirwaiz

Chairman Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani on Monday while commenting over the statements of Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat and state police chief Dr S P Vaid said they have admitted that through arbitrary measures and unabated killings, India couldn’t break the resolve of Kashmiri people.

In a statement issued here, Geelani while referring to the statement of Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat wherein he said that “neither forces nor militants will achieve their goal (through gun)” said his assertions are ambiguous and portray only distorted form of events.

“Their statements confirm our moral victory and illustrates that nation has upper hand. It is a victory mark for my suppressed and oppressed people,” Geelani said, adding that Gen Rawat needed to visit the annals of Kashmir history.

Geelani said it is absurd to say that people of Kashmir favour India, instead the Indian military is engaged in a war against innocent civilians in every nook and corner of the state. “It testifies our claim that Indian authorities are living in an illusion and believe in military might,” he said.

“Don’t tinker or misquote history,” Hurriyat (G) chairman insisted, adding that distortion of events and facts can never change narrative and that misinterpretation of facts can never suppress or subdue aspirations and ambitions of people.

“Army chief should convey New Delhi that people in Kashmir are firm and determined to follow their sacred freedom struggle despite all odds and won’t succumb to state sponsored pressure, nor they will leave their goal midway or unaccomplished,” he said.

“It is their power of arrogance,” said Geelani, adding, “India with its all military might is occupying the state.”

Rejecting the Army chief’s statement, Geelani said that it is a brazen lie. He said that referendum is the only yardstick that can validate and confirm people’s aspiration about their political destiny and it will clear which way the wind blows.

General Rawat on Sunday said that peace was the only way to improve the situation in Kashmir that had been witnessing militancy for about three decades now.

Hours later his Pakistani counterpart said the peaceful resolution of India-Pakistan disputes, including the core issue of Kashmir, can be found through comprehensive and meaningful dialogue.

“Indian Army chief admits to the futility of use of force and Pakistan Army chief talks of peace through dialogue. Its time their political counterparts accede to what their chiefs have realised and resolve the

#Kashmir dispute through political measures putting an end to bloodshed,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, tweeted.

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