The opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday urged the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to convene a round table conference to start the dialogue process.
In a statement, the PDP president Mehbooba Mufti cautioned against 'putting sensitive Kashmir issue in the cold storage' adding that 'solution of this problem is must for sustainable peace and economic growth of this region because resolution of this problem is key to the lasting peace and prosperity in the entire South Asia'.
"To make the round table conference meaningful, it is necessary to involve all sections including separatists into the dialogue process", she said and recalled 'the historical initiatives taken by the previous Congress-PDP regime in the state for restoring peace in this region'.
In the statement Mehbooba referred to the historical speech of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at Srinagar in which he had extended hand of friendship to Pakistan. "It was all due to our conviction that successive governments at New Delhi have endorsed steps taken by the previous regime for peace in this region", she said and also recalled opening of Uri-Muzaffarbad road by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Referring to the historic background of the problem, she said that before 1947, 'Jammu and Kashmir was connected through different routes with Central and South Asia but all routes were closed after 1947 and the state was caught by a sense of siege, separation and deprivation on political and economic fronts'.
'In order to free the state from a sense of siege', Mehbooba Mufti stressed on 'expanding the scope of trans-LOC trade and travel'. She said to make 'the historic 2005 initiative more meaningful it was necessary to remove the hassles in the movement of goods and passengers'.
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