Date:23/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/23/stories/2003012303471200.htm

National

Trifurcation demand unjustified: Mufti

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JAN. 22. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, has scoffed at the Sangh Parivar's demand for trifurcation of the State, saying that the people wanted to live in a united and integrated Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking to presspersons here today, Mr. Sayeed said: "Jammu and Kashmir is a miniature India. People of all faiths live there. People do not want division." He recalled how those who went to the recent elections on this plank were routed. The demand for division of the State on communal lines implied support to the two-nation theory. "What is the justification for this demand?'' he asked.

The Mufti, who is here as part of a campaign to attract investment in Kashmir, met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, to seek the State's expertise and guidance in electronics and information technology and conferred with industrialists participating in the Hyderabad GITEX 2003.

The fair elections held in his State had earned the acclaim of the international community as well as within the country, he said adding that the mandate had cast an onerous responsibility on his Government to "deliver" and provide a healing touch. It was trying to revitalise the administration to meet the aspirations of the people. Some sections had vested interest in militancy and there was no accountability in the administration.

Steps were now on to abolish red-tapism and serve the people more effectively. His Government was interested in restoring peace in the strife-torn Valley and not in "witch-hunting".