Pune: “Only when we overcome the political instability in Jammu and Kashmir, we will be able to take steps towards resolving the conflicts,” said Dr Shah Faesal, a former IAS officer who recently quit bureaucracy to join politics, while interacting with the media in the city, on Thursday.
Faesal, who is gaining sizable support from Pakistani youths, hinted at a possibility of announcing a new political party in coming weeks.
He said, “We want to present the youths of Kashmir with a new political space. I have great respect for the institution of Parliament and if everything works out well, I would like to contest the Lok Sabha elections this year as well.”
Faesal also said that while he is not coming up with a definite formula to resolve the Kashmir conflict immediately, but he wants to challenge the situation and give new hope to the Kashmiris.
He felt local Kashmiri politicians have made lot of compromises. “If the politics in our State was going in the right direction, we would not see our State in the condition that it has reached. Kashmir saw the highest number of killings ever in 2018. There is violence on both sides. The conflict is between the soldiers and the youth here. As the number of killings increases, the government feels they should send more soldiers there. This leads to an even higher number of youths entering the fight. Until the political parties do not address the issues upfront, they are not going to be resolved,” he added.
Speaking about the necessity of continuing interaction with Pakistan, Faesal said when there is peace in South Asia, there is peace in Kashmir and hence, the interaction must continue.
