PM calls for new beginning in Kashmir

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday that he could empathise with the pain and suffering of the youth in the Kashmir Valley.

In his first statement on the troubled situation in the Valley since clashes broke out on June 11, the prime minister also issued an appeal to the youth and said they should go back to their schools and colleges and resume studies.

In a televised speech in Urdu, he said he could understand the “dard aur mayusi” of the people.

Calling for a new beginning, the prime minister said there had been very little development (”bahut kam tarakki”) in Jammu and Kashmir.