War With Pakistan No Option: Pro-Indian Kashmiri Leader

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, Dec 3: The pro-Indian Kashmiri leader and former chief minister of Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday asserted that war with Pakistan is no option.

He said, "War with Pakistan is no option and those who are propagating this option are the enemies of India. During the All Party Meet in New Delhi a few days back, I had pleaded for a strong military action against Pakistan".

The former chief minister said, "In the All Party Meeting as elsewhere I advocated the need for restrain and joint efforts to tackle the menace of terrorism. I had suggested to the Prime Minster that all the thirty foreign countries whose nationals were targeted in the Mumbai strikes along with India and Pakistan must formulate a joint strategy and pool all resources to carry out meaningful investigation into the Mumbai incident and expose the culprits and bring them to book".

He said all political parties must rise above vote bank politics and work towards better Indo-Pak relations. "No efforts whatsoever should be made to weaken Pakistan, which is not in the interest of India".

He said India and Pakistan who are both nuclear powers, should work in close cooperation with each other in different spheres to strengthen bilateral and that alone, he said can bring peace in the sub-continent.

The former chief minister said Kashmiris want peace to prevail between India and Pakistan because they are the worst sufferers when the relations between the two countries have been strained. "We will play a pivotal role in bringing the two countries closer and that alone can lead to a lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir," he added.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.