Islamabad, Delhi should not 'let ties deteriorate'

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said yesterday the India-Pakistan relationship should be prevented from deteriorating further.

"We shall have to ensure that these relations do not slip into reverse gear. Instead of going a step forward, we must not slip two steps backward," Abdullah told reporters here.

The relations between the two countries deteriorated following the Mumbai terror attacks. India says the terrorists who ravaged Mumbai in November were Pakistanis.

Abdullah said his government was considering bringing back the youth who have crossed over to Pakistan for arms training and were willing to return home to live a peaceful life.

Review

"During the meeting of the Unified Command chaired by me [on Wednesday], we also discussed the modalities of trying to bring back the youth who are still on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) and want to return to their homes," Abdullah said.

He said the review of cases of people under detention in various jails should be decentralised from the state level review committee to the district level for speedy disposal.

The chief minister said instead of building new assets for the state in near future, the priority of his government would be to make the existing assets fully functional.

"We are preparing a 100-day comprehensive programme which will be implemented so that the people can judge it for themselves," he said.

The programme would focus on education, healthcare, electricity and public health engineering sectors.

He said he was visiting Mumbai today to meet financial leaders of the country for investments in the state.