Message Board

Is US using the Kashmir issue to try and get a permanent foothold in South Asia? Post your views

Jammu: In the wake of Indo-Pak peace initiatives, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on May 9 suggested opening border points in the state as part of Confidence Building Measures (CBM) between the two nations.

"The border points at Sialkot and R S Pura in Jammu and Kashmir should be opened between two countries as a CBM between the people of two countries," Sayeed told reporters after inaugurating a new office complex of Director General of Police in Jammu.

To a pointed query on why he was suggesting opening up of borders, Sayeed said the move would help end alienation among the Kashmiris, who live on both sides of the divide.

"If people of the two countries travel through Punjab border, why cannot they have interaction through borders in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister wondered.

"When people from across the globe come to see the enchanting beauty of Kashmir, let people from across the border also come and see the beauty of J and K," he said.

Sayeed observed that gun-culture had lost its relevance as talks between India and Pakistan are in the offing and ground work for the same had started.

A new situation has emerged in the world after September 11, 2001, he said adding the need of the hour was to restore friendship as both the countries have been bleeding over the years because of the Kashmir issue.

In reply to another question on Hizbul Mujaheedin's earlier ceasefire, the Chief Minister said the militants should give the peace talks a chance. "People also want peace and it is this pressure that has resulted in the initiation of peace process," he said.

PTI