Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday called for a Prime Minister-level summit between India and Pakistan saying it was crucial that the two countries resumed bilateral discussions.
“The leaders of the two countries should talk with the right... perspective to resolve the Kashmir issue once for all.
“We want to tell our children that the Kashmir issue no longer exists and peace and development have taken their permanent place in the state,” Mr. Omar said at a public meeting at Pattan in Baramulla district.
The “Kashmir issue was born” at the time of the partition of the country and “India considers its accession necessary for its secular ethos while Pakistan wants Kashmir to be with it given its Muslim majority character,” Mr. Omar said.
“Both the countries are nurturing their individual ideas in this regard and the people of J&K are suffering constantly.
“Let’s have a summit between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to talk Kashmir,” he said.
Neither the state government nor any political leaders here were in “a position to resolve the issues between India and Pakistan”, Mr. Omar said, adding that friendly ties between the two neighbours had a direct bearing on the peace and prospects of J&K.
Mr. Omar said that although National Conference had not included the Kashmir issue in its 2008 election manifesto, yet it had vehemently highlighted the need for recognising the issue’s political genesis with a view to resolving it through dialogue.
