Kishtwar: Former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday stated that he along with other people of J&K did not want to witness further spate of killings of innocent persons, including Kashmiri Pandits or Muslims.
While addressing a well attended political rally at Chatroo Kishtwar, Azad stated, “This was the time to wake up and rise together to stop mindless killings of innocent Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs or the selective killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims. We don’t want our children to become orphans or our sisters and daughters to become widows. This needs to be stopped with a united resolve,” he said.
Former Chief Minister said, “We, the people of J&K, particularly our youth, need to remain cautious against the slogans which aim at appeasing one religion or the other. We should not allow ourselves to get astray by the misleading slogans or the attempts of those vested interests who want to destroy the exemplary communal harmony and brotherhood in J&K. We cannot forget our glorious past. When the whole country was in spate of communal frenzy, the father of nation Mahatma Gandhi had seen a ray of hope in Kashmir and in Kishtwar. We need to revive that spirit to defeat all nefarious designs.”
He averred that the poverty, illiteracy would not end with slogans. “Slogans cannot make us developed. For development, we need innovative thinking and a determination to work and progress,” he said while recalling how the works initiated during his tenure as the Chief Minister remained unfinished after his alliance partner (PDP) withdrew support.
“That resulted into the wastage of both resources and money. The works I started were abandoned by the subsequent governments. I wanted to finish those works for the progress of J&K with your support,” he said. Azad also recalled that he created history in the country when he got the compensation approved for land acquired for various development projects twice for J&K.
“Once it happened when I was the Chief Minister and secondly when I was the union minister and Omar Abdullah was the Chief Minister of the NC-Congress coalition government,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Azad also visited the residence of Thakur Madan Lal Bhandari, a poet and social worker to offer his condolences to the bereaved family over his (Bhandari’s) demise. Bhandari passed away on September 3.