Centre must come up with political roadmap for Kashmir: NC

Jammu: Warning that "patchwork or rhetoric" can make Kashmir a "military flashpoint", National Conference on Sunday said that to resolve the issue, the Centre should come up with a roadmap which is acceptable to all stakeholders.

"The Centre must immediately come up with a political roadmap, acceptable to all stakeholders. It must appreciate internal and external dimensions of the issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir," NC provincial President Devender Singh Rana said.

"Patchwork or?rhetoric can vitiate the atmosphere and make the region a flashpoint for military conflict. The situation, calls for sagacious and cautious approach," he said.

"Sooner the wisdom dawns upon the Centre to work out an acceptable political roadmap, the better it is for the larger interest of peace, progress and unity of the country as also this sensitive state, which is undergoing history's most traumatic phase under the PDP-BJP dispensation,"Rana said.

The NC leader decried the "nonchalant" attitude of the Centre in ending the crisis, asking whether "disturbed Kashmir is politically expedient for BJP to hide its failures".

"If the situation is allowed to drift and aggravate due to political motivations, the price could be far too heavy for national integration," he said.

Rana expressed concern over disturbances spreading to fresh areas and asked people to remain vigilant against divisive forces.

"Failure in governance can manifest in generating hate and creating a wedge between different sections of society," he said.

National Conference, he said, treats Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh as "vital limbs of its body physique and if one part gets hurt, the entire body feels the pain with same intensity".

"This may perhaps not be understood by those juggling words about 'Insaanyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat', which Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah believed in all his life, nurtured and practised, especially during most testing times of history," Rana said, apparently referring to a recent speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said NC cannot remain a mute spectator to the worsening situation and will continue to strive for peace and dignity of the people, and expressed solidarity with the victims of the violence.

Rana also condemned the grenade blast in Poonch, saying such acts will not deter the people from maintaining peace and harmony in the state.