Srinagar: CPI (M) State Secretary and MLA, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami in Srinagar on Monday said that if most of the present day European countries could reduce their borders to mere dotted lines on the map, why cant India and Pakistan silence their guns and maintain calm on the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement he described the ongoing firing on LOC, which has resulted in a number of military and civilian causalities as most unfortunate and a step backwards. If the ceasefire agreement of 2003 lasted for a decade why cant it be prolonged and made permanent. India and Pakistan need to think over the phenomenon and root out the irritants, the CPI (M) leader urged.
The statements of the leaders on both sides advocating friendly relations makes no sense if guns keep on roaring on the LoC and people, especially uninvolved civilians get killed and properties damaged. No doubt Kashmiris on both sides bear the brunt, the people of India and Pakistan too suffer economically, politically, socially and even psychologically. Let India and Pakistan fight their greater internal enemies of poverty, corruption, disease, natural disasters like floods and of course terrorism and sectarian violence, rather than aim their guns on each other, Tarigami suggested.
He said the leadership of both the countries have to rise above small political considerations, exercise control, show grit and take bold initiatives. It is their historical obligation to bury the hatchet and open a new chapter in the relations of two neighbors. By maintaining peace they have a chance to contribute and by prolonging animosity they have nothing to gain and give. Since the vast majority of India and Pakistan long for peace the governments of both the countries should not listen to hawks and to those who hope to thrive on uncertainty, tension, animosity and hatred, Tarigami observed.
The CPI (M) leader described Kashmir issue a festering wound and a bottleneck in the ushering of peace and prosperity in South Asia and appealed the Indian and Pakistani leadership to show courage and acumen and initiate the process of resolving all mutual issues including Kashmir.
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