Srinagar locals offer prayers for peace in New Year
Srinagar:As the whole world celebrates the arrival of New Year 2010 with music and party, the locals in Srinagar here chose to pray for peace and harmony on Friday. People
offered prayers for a peaceful year ahead. "We prayed that the New Year should
be good for the people of Kashmir. There should be no strikes, conditions should
remain good so that tourism remains unaffected," said Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a student.
Earlier on Thursday, the locals celebrated their New Year along with tourists
in the open at Gulmar around sixty kilometers form here. Music, dance, comic shows
and crackers marked the celebrations on Thursday. The authorities had decorated
the Gulmarg to beckon the visitors. "I am feeling good because I have never enjoyed
snow before. I am really enjoying the natural beauty of Kashmir valley because
my mom is born and brought up here, and I am first time here," said Pinki Sharma,
a tourist from Mumbai. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his
family enjoyed skiing at Gulmarg on Thursday. Abdullah wished New Year 2010 to
bring peace and prosperity to the state and development works in the troubled
state will continue. "We would expect to get more success in our programmes of
development, political dialogue and of giving a new shape to the state," he said.
