SRINAGAR, India - Indian Kashmirâs top woman politician appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday to help bring peace to the revolt-hit region by persuading militants to declare a ceasefire. âEncourage them to announce a ceasefire,â Mehbooba Mufti urged Musharraf. âPlease make the youth understand people in Kashmir want peace, not violence.â
"What's she saying, Mahmoud?"
"I dunno, the lips are moving but nuttin's coming out." |
She made the appeal after being unanimously re-elected chief of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which came to power in 2002 in state elections on a pledge to bring âpeace with dignityâ to Indian Kashmir.
Mufti, whose father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is chief minister of Indian Kashmir, accompanied her appeal with a charge that Islamabad is sending guns into the Indian zone of the divided Himalayan region. Mufti said Musharraf was seeking to please the West by cracking down on extremists in Pakistan after recent deadly bombings in London. âIn our land, there are people who are dying. Donât you feel pain when people die here?â she said.
| "No. Now shaddup and cook me a steak." |
âI appeal to President Musharraf to prevent bloodshed in Kashmir...try to treat this festering wound.â
Mufti asked Musharraf to try to get militants to announce a truce like one declared in July 2002 by the regionâs top rebel group, Hizbul Mujahadin, whose leadership is based in the Pakistani zone of Kashmir. India reciprocated by suspending military operations against the group but Hizbul abandoned the ceasefire after just two weeks.
âOur party has an agenda to get the issue of Kashmir resolved through dialogue. I will continue to strive for that,â added Mufti, whose party is in a power-sharing arrangement in Kashmir with Indiaâs national ruling Congress. |