Gun no answer says Mufti, calls again for talks

Amidst the renewed bloodletting in Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today favoured an unconditional dialogue with the people of the state to restore ‘‘peace with dignity’’. The J&K chief minister—who spoke several hours before the Raghunath temple attack in Jammu—referred to the ‘‘resolve at the national level’’ for dialogue and said that ‘‘if we want to liberate the people of Kashmir from oppression, the bullet is no answer.’’

At least 20 security personnel were killed last week; on Saturday, state Rural Development Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed’s motorcade was fired on in Anantnag—the first attack on a minister after the new government was sworn in. The Congress leader was heading towards his Kokernang constituency when militants attacked his motorcade near Hiller village, police said. The obscure ‘Al-Nasreen’ group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Chief Minister vowed today that his government’s commitment to resolving the Kashmir issue wouldn’t be weakened by the increased violence over the past few days.

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‘‘I am not claiming that I will solve the issue, but I will try and initiate a serious dialogue,’’ Sayeed said at a function at Tagore Hall here. The function had been organised to distribute appointment letters to victims of militancy.

A hundred and twenty five appointment letters were handed over to the relatives of those killed between 1990 and 1993.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Parvez Dewan revealed that 774 cases were pending in Srinagar district alone.