SIALKOT: Sher-i-Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, has urged the Indian Government to settle all issues including that of Kashmir with Pakistan in an amicable way in her own interest, says a report from across the cease-fire line. Sheikh Abdullah was talking to newsmen in Srinagar (briefly reported in Tuesday’s [June 9] “Dawn”) in connection with the People’s Convention.

He said that India’s illegal hold on Kashmir was eating her economy and the best way to save it from collapse was to have internal and external peace in the country. External peace, he added, could be possible only by resolving her disputes with Pakistan.

Referring to internal peace, he said, that it was tragic and painful that in a country whose leaders preached non-violence every now and then communal riots were taking place resulting in large scale massacre of Muslims in Ahmadabad, Gujrat, Mahrashtra and Calcutta. “See what is happening in India and tell me where is Gandhi’s non-violence theory, is this the way a secular State should run her affairs. Where is the much preached principle of Ahimsa which has been blown to pieces by the Indian communalists,” he asked.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2020