Decisive measures needed to end despair in J&K: Mehbooba

A day after taking over, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said "decisive measures" would be required to end the scenario of "despair and trust-deficit" in the state and informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had committed full support from the Centre.
"The Prime Minister called me this morning, immediately on his return from Saudi Arabia, reassuring me of full support from the Government of India in mitigating the sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," she told a gathering of people who had come to felicitate her.
Mehbooba said addressing the genuine political, economic and security concerns of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is an issue which goes beyond power politics and requires a decisive political will at various levels.

"We shall have to take decisive measures to end the scenario of despair and trust deficit," she said.
She said the PDP-BJP 'Agenda of Alliance' is not a pact between two political parties but an agenda of more than one billion people of the country to usher Jammu and Kashmir into an era of peace, stability and prosperity.
"Productive development and inclusive prosperity is possible only in an environment of peace and stability which necessitates that not only the people of Jammu and Kashmir but that of the whole country join this new enterprise of hope to pull the state out of the morass and resolutely address the challenges confronting it," she said.

She said her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Modi had a shared vision for peace and prosperity of the state and the present government would work with fresh resolve towards implementing that vision so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir could reap the fruits of globalization and economic liberalization like their counterparts in other states of the country.

She also asked the people of the state to see the
situation in Muslim countries around the world which have been affected by violence, and compared them with India where different people live together in peace.
"See the whole world, especially the Muslim countries, Iraq, Syria, Libya or Egypt or even our neighbour Pakistan where only the people of one religion live, but where have they reached. Today, you see that the maximum destruction caused by the gun is in Muslim countries," she said.

"India is such a big country where democracy thrives, where different people live together. This extraordinary Ganga-Jamuni civilization was what (her father and former chief minister) Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) saw in Aligarh during his student days. And when he returned, he held only one flag in his hand and did not change his stance because he was satisfied. Today, you have got the evidence of his satisfaction," she said.
Later, Mehbooba travelled on the inaugural service of the new DEMU train from Anantnag to Baramulla and took the return service from Baramulla to Srinagar.
She said the service would benefit the people, especially government employees and students, and also demanded that special trains be started during peak tourist season.

"We will now try to increase the frequency of the train services, so that the traffic pressure on the roads is lessened," she said.