Fresh from his biggest policy triumph, the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not announce any new policy initiative on Kashmir on Friday but said the Centre wanted borders to be irrelevant so that there was no difference between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.

The Prime Minister, in a press conference called after an all-party meeting, outlined an already laid-out framework to address the problems of the state and regretted the recent loss of lives in Kashmir. He repeated his condolences to the bereaved families several times during his briefing while two people were killed and 75 injured in protests against his visit on Friday.

“There is a tinge of sadness this time because of the recent incidents of violence which have caused concern to all of us,” PM Singh said. “I express my condolences to the relatives of those who have lost their lives in the violence.” In fact, Singh also regretted the imposition of curfew but said “it was necessary to do so to prevent violence and loss of life and property.”

His emphasis was on the recent thaw in bilateral relations with Pakistan, suggesting it will help resolve Kashmir as well. “While we cannot change borders, we can make them irrelevant. We want to reach a level in our bilateral relationship whereby a Kashmiri experiences no difference between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and old ways of thinking become irrelevant”.

Singh said that there were winds of change in the subcontinent. He said in his recent meeting with President Zardari, he had invited him to work with India “to usher in a new era of subcontinental cooperation”. “Economics, technology and travel are altering older mindsets of suspicion, fear and hostility,” Singh said.

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