Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said on Saturday that growing national and international concern demanded the holding of peace talks immediately as "violence is leading nowhere".

"The need for a dialogue is now increasingly recognised both at national and international level to solve the Kashmir problem," the mufti told a public meeting in Pulwama.

He expressed his resolve to create a situation conducive for the restoration of peace in Jammu and Kashmir with dignity and honour. "My commitment to the return of honourable peace in the state is firm," he said. "The policy of the coalition government is based on the principle that peace and normalcy can be restored through dialogue and not through bullets."

Referring to the violence that has taken a heavy toll of human lives in the state over the years, he said the "time has come when all of us should work for peace and development. Innocent lives were lost and thousands of people were rendered destitute who need care and attention. The bleeding wounds need a healing touch that would be provided to bring back the sufferers to normal life."

The chief minister said that in the "changed situation the security forces too have to change their approach" discernibly. He said they must be seen to be people-friendly and must make clear distinctions between innocents and lawbreakers. He said he raised this point at the meeting of the unified command chaired by the deputy prime minister in Jammu recently.

The mufti said the state government will soon relax by two years the upper age limit for recruitment to government service, from the present 35 years to 37. "A large number of educated youth are unemployed in the state who are facing a dilemma as they are about to cross the prescribed age limit. The relaxation is necessary to bring them back from the brink of hopelessness and to give a healing touch to the educated unemployed."