Omar Abdullah praises Manmohan Singh for sticking to plan to meet Sharif

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday for sticking to his decision to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan inspite of the recent terror strikes in Kathua and Samba, and the repeated cease-fire violations from across the border along the Line of Control (LoC).

Dr. Singh and Prime Minister Sharif are scheduled to meet in New York on Sunday on the sidelines of the 68th session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).

"Today, I want to salute Manmohan Singh, as he did not let this conspiracy to succeed by leaving the talks table," Abdullah said.

Abdullah further said: "We have been saying that the gun is no solution to the issues. These are political issues and need to be resolved politically, you can't achieve the results through the barrel of the gun. There is no other option but talks."

"Today, our eyes are set on a small hotel room, 10,000-km away, where we hope friendship will flourish between the two neighbours... we hope we are not let down this time," the chief minister said after laying the foundation stone for a flyover that would connect Jehangir Chowk and Rambagh here.

Abdullah asked: "Attempts were made to stop the talks, be it on the political front or by other means. What was the aim behind the unfortunate attacks on Thursday in Jammu in which 10 precious lives were lost?

"We have seen in the past that when such attacks took place, the process of talks stopped. Forces who do not want India and Pakistan to talk tried to use this attack to stop the process of talks even before it started," he added.