SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti reaffirmed Wednesday her stand that Union government should initiate dialogue with Pakistan, saying J&K is suffering due to hostility between two neighbours and only through reconciliation can peace and stability be achieved.
This has been PDP’s stated position for long. In its assembly election manifesto, PDP advocated talks with Pakistan to address “unsettled Kashmir issue”.
“People of J&K are stuck in animosity between two countries. Their lives and their property are getting destroyed because two countries are fighting each other. J&K is bearing brunt and poor non-local labourers are also suffering because of that,” Mehbooba said after visiting slain doctor Shahnawaz Ahmed Dar’s home in Nayidgam village of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
Dr Dar and six other employees of a tunnel-construction company were killed by suspected Pakistani terrorists at their campsite on Srinagar-Leh highway in Ganderbal district Sunday evening. Other victims were architectural engineer Shashi Bhushan Abrol from Jammu, three workers from Bihar — Faheem Nasir, Mohammad Hanif, and Abdul Kaleem — along with Anil Shukla from Madhya Pradesh, and Gurmeet Singh from Punjab.
Ex-CM Mehbooba, who headed a PDP-BJP govt from April 2016 to June 2018, criticised Centre’s stand on dialogue with Pakistan, pointing out that mixed messages from govt further delay peace process. She said until India and Pakistan engage in meaningful dialogue, similar to peace efforts initiated during former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, situation would only worsen.
Her remarks stand in contrast with NC president Farooq Abdullah’s rhetoric after Ganderbal massacre that there can be no talks till Pakistan stops killings. Mehbooba refused comments on Abdullah’s remarks. “Every person in J&K, not just Mehbooba Mufti, wants this violence to end and that two countries sit together and talk so that we get out of this bloodshed,” she said.