Srinagar, Jun 20: Criticising "active American participation" in various Indo-Pak issues, veteran CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee asserted that friendship cannot be forged under pressure from Washington. "We don't need a middleman for solving our bilateral issues," Chatterjee said at a reception organised in his honour by the state unit of CPM yesterday.

"America's pulls and pressure on the two countries will bear no fruits," he said.

He said injustice has been done with the people of Jammu and Kashmir as the Centre failed to fulfill the "legitimate demands" of the state.
However, there has been perceptible change in the atmosphere after the new government under chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed assumed power, he said.

The senior communist leader endorsed Sayeed's "healing touch" policy and termed it as the "real" solution to the problems plaguing the state.
Expressing concern over the spurt in human rights violations in the state, Chatterjee demanded an impartial probe into such incidents.

Attacking the fundamentalist forces in the country and in Pakistan of blocking resolution of long pending issues, he said, "People having vested interests don't want both the countries to live in peace and trqanquality."
Emphasing on the need to change the image of the violence-hit state, chief minister Sayeed said that he had invited industrialists, film producers and tourism official to visit Jammu and Kashmir and witness the changes taken place in the state.

Bureau Report