People's Democracy

JAMMU & KASHMIR  

CPI(M) On Indo-Pak Exchange Of Delegations

EVENTS and experience have convinced the people of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) that relations of friendship and cooperation between India and Pakistan are vital for their fundamental interests. It is a matter of satisfaction that the two countries have taken a number of measures to open the channels of communication, though the pace could have been accelerated. The exchange of a few delegations between the two countries has undoubtedly helped in initiating a process of understanding between the peoples of the two countries.

This was the opinion expressed by the J&K state committee of the CPI(M) through a statement issued by its secretary, Mohd Yousuf Tarigami, on July 14.

The statement noted that though a 100-member delegation from Pakistan, led by senator Ilyas Ahmed Bloor (of Peshawar), who is also the president of Indo-Pak Chambers of Commerce, is currently on a visit to India and has already toured several states, unfortunately the government of India turned down the delegation’s request to visit J&K.

The CPI(M) is of the view that if the governments of India and Pakistan withhold permission to the delegations from the two countries to visit the areas across the line of control (LoC) in J&K, it may only isolate the J&K people and would not serve the cause of developing friendly relations between the two countries.

The party reiterated its stand that the facilitation of easy travel for the J&K people, living on two sides of the LoC, will help in removing doubts and suspicions, and this can go a long way in the improvement of relations between the two countries. The party also stressed that the leaders of divergent shades of opinion in Jammu & Kashmir need to join heads and work for evolving an agreed opinion, which may emerge as an autonomous voice of the state, leading to a settlement of the issues involved. In this way, Jammu & Kashmir can serve as a bridge of understanding and cooperation, instead of a source of confrontation, between the two countries.