The Hindu : Militants realising futility of the gun: Mufti

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Sunday, Jun 15, 2003

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Militants realising futility of the gun: Mufti

By Our Staff Reporter

Jammu June 14. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today said that the thaw in the Indo-Pak. relations had brought a soothing change in the environment of the State. He said the peace process needed to be carried forward for the betterment of the people of the State and the subcontinent.

Giving a lecture at the Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies of Jammu University here today, the Mufti said, "The Central Government has shown lot of maturity and open-hearted attitude by announcing a fresh peace initiative with Pakistan. It realised the necessity of ending the never-ending hostility. This was despite the fact that our neighbour has not been kind to us keeping in mind the Kargil and Agra fiasco."

"As the head of the state, I can see a visible change in the violence graph in the militancy-affected areas of the State. Militants are realising the futility of the gun and are increasingly getting irrelevant. People are clearly coming out in open defiance of the gun to call for peace."

He said, "the change is clearly due to the improvement in India and Pakistan relations and there is no doubt people of the State have gained out of it.'' "Not only have the people within the State been provided relief but also the people of the border areas who have stood their ground despite odds.'' he added.

Appealing to the Indian leadership to continue to adopt a policy of maturity, he said, "India is a moving elephant and a great country. It is known as an apostle of peace and the greatest man on earth of this century (Mahatma Gandhi) walked on it.

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