Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waves to the crowd during a rally in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Nov. 17. (Photo: AFP)

Srinagar : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Nov. 17 ruled out any division of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of religion to resolve the dispute over the region as he announced a mammoth Rs.240 billion ($5 billion) development package for the state.

Peace and development dominated his addresses at two public engagements as he urged Kashmiris to become stakeholders in the moves to usher in normalcy.

Even as he landed in Srinagar, security forces shot dead two separatist guerrillas who barged into a shopping complex not far from where he addressed a public rally some hours later.

But that did not deter Singh from going ahead with his two-day program in the state, a trip seen as highly significant from the standpoint of India-Pakistan relations and the stability and integrity of the country.

“I have made this point clear that any redrawing of the international border is not something which is going to be acceptable to our country,” he told a press conference here on the first day of his two-day visit. “Any proposal which would further divide our country on the basis of religion is not going to be acceptable to us.”

It was peace all the way as the prime minister addressed a public gathering and before that, students of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences during his first visit to the violence-hit state after assuming office in May.

In his address at the sprawling Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium, Singh, who spoke in a mixture of Urdu and English, focused on economic development rather than militancy.

Reiterating the central government’s stand on “unconditional talks” with anyone and everyone in Kashmir who abjured violence, the prime minister said: “I have already extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan.

It was at this stadium that the India-Pakistan peace process was born after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a historic speech in April last year, extending a widely applauded “hand of friendship” to Pakistan.

Over a year later, Singh, the first prime minister belonging to the Congress Party to address a public rally in the Kashmir Valley in 16 years, used the same venue to outline his vision for the militancy-torn state and for India-Pakistan friendship. It seemed that the prime minister’s announcements were well received. The crowd, which mostly comprised young men, welcomed the offer of a financial bonanza for the state’s development with shouts of joy and slogans.

Quoting from the poem ‘Where the mind is without fear’ by Rabindranath Tagore, Singh said that in order to become a “heaven of freedom,” India required upright men and women who were willing to commit themselves selflessly to this goal.

He said the time had come to put forward a new blueprint and a fresh vision for Kashmir and for the Kashmiri people to be free from the fear of war, want and exploitation.

“But I have a dream and a firm belief that working together we can build a new Kashmir which can become, once again, a symbol of peace, prosperity and cultural pluralism.”

The prime minister recalled his plea to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last month to work together for sustainable peace, and reiterated that territory under Pakistan should not be used for terror.

“Our government is committed to purposeful dialogue to end violence in Jammu and Kashmir. I am very clear that territory under Pakistan’s control should not be used for cross-border terrorism,” he said.

At the press conference, the prime minister maintained that Musharraf should put his proposals on resolving the Kashmir issue in a “proper form,” and said he was not prepared to respond to any hypothetical questions on the issue. Asked if he envisaged a resolution of the Kashmir issue “in our lifetime,” the prime minister replied: “I am not a pessimist. Who could have imagined that the Berlin Wall would collapse? But that happened in our lifetime. Our efforts are to resolve (the Kashmir issue) through a purposeful and meaningful dialogue.”