Shaken by a Delhi blast involving a doctor, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti announced a youth outreach program in Jammu and Kashmir. The party seeks to understand why youth are 'embracing death over life' and find solutions to the region's problems.
PDP to Engage J&K Youth After Delhi Blast
Stressing that the Delhi Blast involving a doctor has "shaken" her, People's Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that her party will initiate a direct outreach with the youth of Jammu and Kashmir as they want to know the reason the young people are "embracing death over life".
Speaking to the media, Mufti said the PDP wants to understand the pressures pushing young people "towards death instead of life," adding that several youngsters shared their concerns and suggestions during the interaction. She said this was only the beginning of a wider engagement as the party plans to hold similar meetings across the region to collectively search for "real solutions" to Jammu and Kashmir's persistent challenges.
"... The incident that took place in Delhi recently in which an educated doctor was involved. That incident kept me shaken. The party has decided that we will talk to the youth here (in Jammu and Kashmir). We want to know from them what such compulsion is that is causing the youth to embrace death instead of life. Many young people came here who got the opportunity to speak. We have received many suggestions. This will not be our last meeting; rather, we will go to other areas as well... We need to find solutions to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir...," Mufti said.
A total of 15 people were killed and over two dozen others injured in the Delhi blast that occurred around 7 pm on November 10 in a moving Hyundai i20 car driven by one alleged suicide bomber, Umar Un Nabi.
Mufti Invokes Vajpayee's Roadmap for Peace
The former chief minister invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's conciliatory approach, calling it the most credible framework for lasting peace in the region. "The roadmap that Mr Vajpayee had made with Mufti Sahab (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) to solve the problems of Jammu and Kashmir - we need to work on that. J&K will not go anywhere. We want to live in peace and respect, not under the pressure of any agency, but by our own happiness. Reconciliations are important for that," Mehbooba Mufti said.
Mufti said the people of J&K are "very depressed and unhappy," urging both the Centre and regional leadership to reconnect with disillusioned youth. She said the PDP would strive to "become a bridge between the country and the youth." (ANI)
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