Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed said on Saturday that his "self-rule formula for Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control" was the only possible solution to the Kashmir crisis.
Addressing a public meeting at the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium in Srinagar, the patron of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), said: "Both the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf have agreed that there has to be an out of-the-box solution for the Kashmir problem.
"The self-rule formula prepared by the PDP is the only possible out-of-the-box solution for the vexed problem that has plagued the lives of the Kashmiri people on the two sides of the Line of Control and the relations between India and Pakistan."
Mufti, who left for New Delhi on way to New York where he would attend the United Nations General Assembly meet as head of the Indian delegation, described the contours of his party's self-rule formula.
"I would also speak about the Kashmir problem at the UN General Assembly meeting. Our self-rule formula includes joint management of resources on both parts of Kashmir across the Line of Control. There should also be a joint response mechanism to natural calamities," he said.
He strongly advocated the withdrawal of Article 356 of the Indian Constitution that gives Central Government the right to dissolve a state Assembly and impose presidential rule that was extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the mid 1960s.
"The governor of the state must be an elected representative who should belong to one of the three regions here. The sweeping powers under Article 356 of the Constitution which are used as tools to topple state governments must be withdrawn," he said.
He also wanted the withdrawal of officials belonging to the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service from the state.
"We must have our own officers to run the administration who would be alive and sensitive to the local problems. Unless Kashmiris are given the right to rule themselves, we would always have problems here," he said.
His daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who is PDP president, and other senior party leaders were present at the meeting. Around 3,000 partymen and supporters had been brought here in buses from various parts of the Kashmir Valley.
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