Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that India and Pakistan came closer to resolving the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government and he is not expecting a return to the situation in his lifetime.
During obituary references to Singh and four other former legislators on the first day of the Budget Session of the J-K Assembly which started as reorted by PTI , Abdullah lavished praises on Singh and said he practically initiated measures for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and his working groups are still relevant.
“In the last assembly session (in Srinagar), we had a long list headed by former prime minister A B Vajpayee and now after four months, we have a short list headed by another former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who has made an immense contribution for the country,” the chief minister said.
Abdullah talked about Singh’s journey from a village, which is now in Pakistan, to becoming the Prime Minister of India and his contributions towards making India an economic power by introducing reforms especially related to private sector and social welfare measures.
On J-K, “he tried to address the problem with the outside country (Pakistan). He did not make this initiative but inherited it as the start was made by Vajpayee and (then Pakistan president Gen Pervez) Musharraf. He would have stopped the initiative after taking over as the prime minister (in 2004), but he was well aware that the initiative taken by Vajpayee is a big responsibility to carry forward, the chief minister said. Singh made sincere efforts despite the deteriorating situation, he said, in an apparent reference to terror incidents. May I say that both the countries have come closer to resolving this (Kashmir) problem during that period and I do not see a return to the situation in my lifetime,” Abdullah said.
