No one in India in favour of war with Pakistan: Omar

Tangdhar: Voicing concern at the heavy shelling in border areas, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said no one in India was in favour of war with Pakistan but friendship cannot be a one-sided affair.

“No one in Jammu and Kashmir or in the country is in favour of war as the wars are no solution to any issue… The shelling by Pakistan on the villages in Jammu and other areas has made me seriously concerned about the life of people living in frontier areas,” Omar said addressing a public meeting near the Line of Control (LoC) here.

Reiterating his advocacy for peace and tranquillity between India and Pakistan, Omar said wars have never solved any issue and these only bring destruction and miseries.

He, however, said friendship requires equal response from both sides.

“Friendship is like the clap needing two hands to perform. If one side extends the hand of friendship, the other side also needs to reciprocate,” he said expressing concern over the violation of ceasefire and shelling at LoC and IB.

On Monday, Omar had said that the Centre will have to look at the possibility of “responding in kind” if Pakistan continued to violate ceasefire along the LoC and international border in the state.

“Obviously this cannot be a one-sided affair. It cannot be a situation where we are the receiving end and no response is given,” Omar had told reporters on the sidelines of a function, drawing strong criticism from various quarters especially separatists who termed his statement as “highly provocative” and “politically immature”.

The Chief Minister said he would continue to stress on the Centre to take up the ceasefire violations with the Pakistan and resolve the issue so that peace rules the roost on borders and on the Line of Control.

“The ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan signed and implemented in 2003 has been highest reward for the people of Jammu and Kashmir particularly living on the LoC and International Border (IB). This is in the highest interests of the people of the state particularly residing in the frontier areas of Jammu, Kashmir and Kargil,” he said.

The Chief Minister expressed the hope that the situation will come to normality and the two neighbours talk to each other to settle all outstanding issues in an amicable and peaceful manner.

On development programmes of the government, the Chief Minister said peace gives fillip to development and the dividends of peace percolates down the line to poorer people.

Achievements registered by the state government during the last over four and a half years are before the people and they would judge the performance on this count, he said.

“Achievements of my government are before you. It is not the time to present you the list of each and every decision, measure and step my government has taken to ameliorate the lot of people equitably and inclusively across the state in all the regions and sub-regions,” he said, adding at the right point in time the chart of achievements would be provided to the people enumerating all details.

The Chief Minister announced special recruitment drive by state police for youths of Karnah, Keran, Machil and other remote areas so that they get ample representation and opportunity to serve in the police department.

Omar said his government has implemented various new schemes for ensuring faster development in remote areas and provide opportunity of jobs to the locals in the upcoming projects.

He also inspected the recently constructed Sub-District Hospital completed at a cost of over Rs 6.73 crore here and expressed satisfaction over its functioning. Omar announced centrally heating plant for the hospital to ensure befitting conditions for patients during the winter months.

The Chief Minister said he would direct the Health Department to immediately take steps to provide 300-capacity X-ray machine in the hospital.