Perpetrators of Mumbai attack be punished
Talks with Pakistan necessity: Farooq

Kanpur 20 Dec: Union minister for New and Renewable energy Farooq Abdullah today said talks with Pakistan were a necessity for all round development of Jammu and Kashmir but insisted it has to bring perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to justice first.

"The dialogue is necessary so that terror incidents stop and there is all round development of the state," he said while receiving national goodwill award from a literary organisation here.

Regarding dialogue with terrorists, he said it cannot take place until they abjure violence and lay down arms.

"They will have to come to the mainstream first," Abdullah said.

Abdullah also criticised the way Shopian incident is being exploited by various political parties for political ends.

"The PDP has been unnecessarily raking up the issue as it is only concerned about capturing power in the state," Abdullah said.

The Union minister also refused to comment on the time frame for troop withdrawal from J-K and said it is the matter related to the Defence Ministry.

During the occasion, the former CM of J-K said all border areas of the country will be provided electricity through solar energy with Gurez along the Indo-Pak border being the first town to receive the benefit.

The scheme has been named as Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission.

He said his ministry has outlined a target of providing all border areas of the country with solar energy by 2022.

Abdullah said the project has been divided into three stages and and will generate 20,000 Mw of electricity.