Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said Kashmiri women have emerged as a source of inspiration and courage for the rest of the country. In the first such event since insurgency erupted in the state, the UPA Chairperson addressed a massive congregation of women at a function held here on the banks of Dal Lake.

Gandhi said she always felt happy about visiting Kashmir. “But today, I am proud to be among the women of Kashmir. You have faced every challenge and have emerged as a symbol of resistance against terror,” she said. In the last two decades, the women of Kashmir, Gandhi said, had suffered a lot. “The scars are embedded in the hearts and the minds of the people. It is the Government’s responsibility to nurse these wounds and bring back peace. The Central and the state Governments have taken several measures in this direction. But more needs to be done,” Gandhi added.

Gandhi said the UPA Government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir have done a commendable job in areas of infrastructure development and in implementing welfare schemes.

She described education and availability of opportunities as two pillars for women empowerment and she emphasised the role of self-help groups and voluntary organisations to achieve this objective. Gandhi said she had enough confidence that the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Government in Jammu and Kashmir would take adequate steps to promote self-help groups that will work towards women’s empowerment.

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