Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Wednesday said Kashmir is a political issue and “uncertainty” over it needs to addressed by taking along all the stakeholders.
“It (Kashmir) is a political issue. This uncertainty needs to be addressed. I want to tell those people (Hurriyat) that I understand their viewpoint as well. That has to be addressed too. That needs to be engaged too.
“The relations with our neighbours, Pakistan, is also needed. They also stood up… Everyone stood up together to fight this (flood)… The SAARC is the ladder to take the development of India forward, but I do not want to go into those details,” Sayeed said here.
The chief minister was speaking at a function to distribute relief among small traders and people affected by the floods in September last year.
Sayeed said his aim was not the chair of the chief minister but to make the state an epitome of peace and love.
“My aim is to make Jammu and Kashmir an epitome of peace and love. I told my party to give the post of the deputy speaker chair in the Assembly to the opposition. We have to involve them as well. I said the deputy chairman in the upper house should be from Congress. We have to be inclusive.
“We have to work on a wider canvass and take everyone along. We are not the only solution but have to be inclusive and take everyone along,” he said.
The chief minister said the September floods were the worst in the last 150 years. “They washed away our everything. But it is the time to forget the past and look towards the future,” he said.
Sayeed said the government was duty-bound to provide relief to those affected by the floods.
In the first phase of relief distribution today, 650 traders, who had suffered loses upto Rs five lakh were given relief of Rs one lakh.
The chief minister said in the second phase, the government will provide Rs two lakh to those traders who suffered loses up to Rs ten lakh.
Also 400 destitute, including women, who were affected by the floods were provided relief.
PTI
