Give me peace, I’ll pursue dialogue, says Mehbooba

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 18

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said peace was imperative for taking Jammu and Kashmir out of uncertainties. She appealed to people to maintain peace so that she could take her agenda of dialogue and reconciliation to higher levels of fulfilment.

“Give me peace. I will pursue dialogue and opening of the routes like Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Sialkote and Nowshera-Jhangar. If there is peace, people on both sides would march together on the path of growth and development,” Mehbooba said while addressing a public meeting in south Kashmir’s Devsar area.

The Chief Minister appealed to people to play their role in maintaining peace so that the process of dialogue and reconciliation was carried forward.

Mehbooba said the agenda of her government had been to take people of the state out of the mess of violence, initiation of the consultative process in the state to sort out issues and develop Jammu and Kashmir as a modern state.

She said many decisions of public welfare such as withdrawal of cases against around 10,000 youth, regularisation of services of 61,000 daily wagers and a massive economic and reconstruction plan were initiated by her government in the last three years.

The Chief Minister said the situation on the borders in the state was not encouraging as deaths and destruction were being reported frequently. She said there was a demand for construction of bunkers from the villagers.

“This is unfortunate. In the 21st century when they (border residents) should be demanding better schools, good hospitals and efficient services, they are asking for bunkers to protect themselves,” she said, adding that the people of the state continue to bear the brunt of the Partition and acrimony between India and Pakistan.

Mehbooba said she was pained to see that people of the state were the ultimate victim of uncertainty, violence, and acrimony.

“It’s the people of the state alone who get killed, their businesses suffer and education is affected,” she said.

Appealing to youth to desist from the path of violence, the CM said the world was witness that violence had not resolved any issues but only given birth to more of them.

Resorting to more violence, she reminded, leads to a response which ultimately leaves behind scars only.