Azad vows to strengthen peace process

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday vowed to strengthen the ongoing peace process with Pakistan as the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

He also pledged to supply aid to the quake-stricken region fully before winter sets in.

"Kashmir is not a child's play where I can spell out my priorities so soon. But yes, the peace process is required to be strengthened. And we will take all parties, from within and outside the government, to strengthen it," Azad said in his first comments after the Congress named him the next chief minister.

• 'The return of Pandits is essential for Kashmiriyat'

He also downplayed reports about differences with People's Democratic Party, saying outgoing Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed whole-heartedly welcomed the power shift to the Congress as part of their agreement.

"The media appeared more in a hurry than the PDP," he remarked, adding the Congress would fully honour the pact by giving the post of the deputy chief minister to the PDP.

• 'I can foresee the rout of National Conference'

"MLAs have every right to air their grievances with their party leader," he said of state Congress legislators' recent moves aimed at building pressure for a change of guard.

Also, the Union minister praised Sayeed for his job on quake relief.