With the Pakistan Prime Minister accepting an invitation from his Indian counterpart to watch the cricket world cup semi-final between the two countries on Wednesday, the PDP today termed it as a positive development towards restoring lasting peace in the region.
"The way the Pakistani premier has responded to the gesture of his Indian counterpart is a clear indication that both the countries want to resume the highest-level dialogue process which had been stalled since 2008," PDP chief Mehooba Mufti said in a statement.
The maturity shown by leadership of both the countries is reflection of an assertion by the forces of the peace and reconciliation for normalising relations between the two neighbourers, she said, asserting that dialogue is the only way to resolve all problems and peace between India and Pakistan is in the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had extended an invitation to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final in Mohali on March 30. Gilani has accepted Singh's invitation.
Hailing the decision to grant multi-entry visas of six-month validity to people from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) visiting Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP chief demanded that the facility should not be confined only to the divided families.
"Residents of both sides of Kashmir should be allowed to cross the LoC," Mehbooba demanded and stressed on the need for removing other impediments to ensure smooth flow of people and goods across the border.
The biggest impediment is lack of communication between people of both sides, she observed and asked the government to restore communication links between people of both sides of the LoC.
