Mehbooba welcomes Home Minister’s remark on talks

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 26

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has welcomed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement that the Centre was ready to talk to every stakeholder in Kashmir, including the Hurriyat Conference, if it comes to the table.

The Union Home Minister on Saturday said if the Hurriyat leadership was ready to come to the table for talks, the Central government was ready for it. He also said that New Delhi was ready to hold talks with Pakistan if it comes forward to hold talks.

“To not welcome anyone who wants to talk, is not the right thing,” the Home Minister said in an interview to a national TV channel.

The Chief Minister said the initiation of dialogue and reconciliation in the state was a welcome step.

She said given the positive outcome from the ground on the Ramzan ceasefire in the state, the peace constituency in the country and the state should feel encouraged to start the much-needed process of peaceful engagement with all stakeholders in the state.

Mehbooba hoped that the parties and groups like the Hurriyat Conference would seize the opportunity and show their responsibility towards the people of the state by displaying the much-needed maturity so that the opportunity was not wasted. She said a peaceful engagement among all stakeholders in the state was urgently needed to get Jammu and Kashmir out of the unending cycle of violence and provide its people a secure, prosperous and peaceful future.