Sonia seeks to ‘heal’ Kashmir wounds

INDIA: India’s ruling party chief Sonia Gandhi called for Kashmir’s “wounded hearts and minds” to be healed during a flying visit to the revolt-hit region.

The Congress party leader, who arrived two hours after Muslim rebels bombed a police vehicle in Srinagar, received a rousing welcome at the city’s tightly guarded convention centre where a partisan audience chanted “Long live Sonia.”

“For the past 20 years Kashmir has witnessed umpteen problems and sufferings,” Gandhi told thousands of women from the state’s social welfare department, non-governmental organisations and Congress party members.

“The situation has not only left external scars but wounded more hearts and minds,” she said.

“It is the prime responsibility for all of us to heal these wounds and bring back peace and tranquility in the lives of the people,” she said. Monday’s bomb attack, which injured three people, took place several kilometers (miles) from the convention site in Srinagar, urban hub of the revolt.

The improvement has been attributed to a peace process launched by nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan in January 2004 aimed at settling all differences including their dispute over the future of Kashmir.

Both hold the region in part but claim it in full. Kashmir has been hit by 18 years of violence against Indian rule. According to official figures, over 42,000 people have died in the conflict.

Gandhi lauded the people of Kashmir for “facing the challenges of terrorism boldly,” a phrase used by New Delhi for the Kashmir insurgency. “Terrorism cannot survive before the will and unity of the people,” she said.

Srinagar, Tuesday, AFP