Jammu, August 29 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday that peace and dialogue is the only way forward to address the Kashmir imbroglio as violence would yield no positive result.
Maintaining that violence will not help resolve issues, Mehbooba said: "Threads need to be picked up from where these were left by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2005, when a serious effort was made both on external and internal fronts to resolve the Kashmir issue through a credible and meaningful dialogue and confidence building process."
Addressing a function organized here in connection with handing over of appointment orders to next of kin of the employees of Jammu division who died in harness, she said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the mandate to take bold decisions on the lines of Vajpayee for the resolution of the problems in and around Jammu and Kashmir.
"We have to ensure that a credible mechanism for dialogue, reconciliation and resolution is put in place and it should not be like the half-hearted efforts made in similar situations after 2008 and 2010 unrests," she said calling for creating conducive atmosphere for dialogue.
Mehbooba said whosoever wants a solution to the Kashmir problem should understand that solution is not going to come through violence.
She said that violence has changed nothing in the political spectrum of Jammu and Kashmir over the years but has only brought mayhem, miseries, economic disaster, academic breakdown and social disorder to the State.
The Chief Minister handed over orders of compassionate appointment in government service to 108 beneficiaries from 10 districts of Jammu division, including 47 from Jammu, five from Reasi, nine from Kathua, 11 from Udhampur, 10 from Poonch, seven from Samba, four from Kishtwar, three from Ramban, eight from Rajouri and four from Doda districts.
The Chief Minister hailed the people of Jammu region for maintaining peace and harmony despite repeated provocations by various disruptive elements.
Her comments came as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to lead an all-party team to Srinagar on September 4, as curfew was lifted from almost all parts of the Kashmir Valley after 51 long days.
