“Talks have to be conducted both with the people of Kashmir and Pakistan for an amicable solution to the long-pending Kashmir issue,” the CM said, while addressing a rally in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
He said even the militants who were ready to shun their guns and come forward to express their concerns would be included in the ambit of talks. “If they are ready to shun the path of violence they sure will be talked to,” said Omar.
“I thank the Government of India for the economic packages we receive. However, there is a need to address the Kashmir issue on both external and internal levels through a sustained dialogue process,’ Omar said.
The CM said that he whole-heartedly accepted the mistakes his party had made in the south Kashmir region. “We have made mistakes in the past and that’s why we scored very poorly here in south Kashmir. However, we are going to leave no stone unturned to rectify the mistakes and I am sure people will support us,” he said.
Reacting to the statement of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed that the PDP was going to form the next government, Omar said people have understood the double talk of the PDP. “I challenge them on this count here. I know people are going to judge us by our performance and we have been pretty fair during our regime,” Omar said.
Calling the PDP-led coalition government a card of failure, Omar said the only thing the PDP had been doing was misleading people.
“The human rights violations have come down considerably during our regime, which makes it easy to compare the seriousness of the two governments,” the CM said.
Omar said his party had even got a chance to topple their government when their MLAs had lost faith in Mufti Muhammad Sayeed but they were saved by the then BJP-led Central government.
