CM: Entrust peace talks to trust

Seema Kaul

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 27

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today told Prime Minister Narendra Modi it was imperative that the Kashmiris trusted those initiating the peace dialogue. A press statement by the J&K Government later in the day said the CM suggested the “involvement of separatists and Pakistan in a substantive dialogue” to resolve the Kashmir tangle. 

During the hour-long meeting, her first with Modi since the unrest broke out in the Valley on July 8, Mehbooba laid out a “three-pronged action plan” for resolving the Kashmir issue, said official sources, without giving any details. A PTI report said the plan included facilitating the visit of an all-party delegation to the Valley next week, a possible change of Governor and appointing an interlocutor to hold talks with all stakeholders. 

Mehbooba said, all parties, including Hurriyat leaders, should come forward for parleys. Pointing out that she had been in power for barely two months, the 57-year-old CM appealed to those protesting on the streets to give her a chance to address their concerns.

Addressing the media later, Mehbooba said: “I have hope that when the PM says there will be dialogue, it will involve everyone. The people of Kashmir should trust those who begin the dialogue. Only then their message will be received well.”

Seeking that the political process initiated by the then Vajpayee-NDA government be revived, she said: “We shall have to pick up the threads from where we left (in 2005).” Reiterating that 95% people in Kashmir wanted lasting peace, Mehbooba said Indian democracy allowed space and freedom to the Kashmiri people to live in peace and with dignity. 

Appealing to Pakistan, she said if it had any sympathy for the Kashmiri youths, it should stop those provoking them to attack Army camps.

“The Prime Minister took a positive step in inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his oath-taking ceremony and he himself paid him a visit. But all this changed after the Pathankot attacks and now when the situation in Kashmir is bad, Pakistan is provoking the youths,” she said, adding peace and stability in the region was in Pakistan's interest too.

Mehbooba said the Prime Minister had assured her that the agenda of the PDP-BJP alliance, which comprised political, economic and development initiatives, would be executed in letter and spirit. “With the PM promising to take the agenda forward, we will be able to come out of the cycle of bloodshed, just as Mufti Sahib had hoped for,” she said.

On the all-party delegation's visit to Kashmir, the J&K Chief Minister was hopeful it would lend its ear to different shades of opinion and elicit the views of all stake-holders to find a way forward.