'Need for continued dialogue with Pakistan to resolve outstanding issues': Akhilesh Yadav

Etawah: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said there was a need for “continued dialogue” with Pakistan to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries, including the border dispute, asserting that the “path of dialogue should never be closed down”. [caption id=“attachment_3038388” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Akhilesh Yadav. AP[/caption] “The path of dialogue should be used to ensure that the country moves ahead, remains secure and is strengthened…dialogue should never be closed,” he told reporters at Nagra Bari village where he met the family members of BSF jawan Nitin Yadav who was killed in the Baramulla terror attack recently. “All the big issues…questions related to the border can be resolved through dialogue. So, it should never be stopped,” Yadav said, adding that stopping the flow of river water or putting up obstacles on roads could never resolve a problem. Regarding the army’s surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), he said it was a “new terminology” which the rural people did not understand. “They only know that when there is a dispute, bullets are fired from both sides,” said the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader. Paying condolences to the slain BSF jawan, the chief minister handed over a cheque of Rs 20 lakh to his father. Later, he inspected the deer safari, dedicated the all-weather swimming pool to the people and gave away e-rickshaws to a beneficiary each from seven surrounding districts. Speaking on the occasion, he referred to the various schemes initiated by his government and lashed out at the previous ‘pathharwali sarkar’ (Mayawati-led BSP government) in the state for “only installing stone structures” and the “waadewali sarkar” (BJP government at the Centre) for making “hollow” promises. “No other government in the country has carried out as many welfare works as the SP government…now, other governments are emulating our works,” claimed Yadav.