Pakistan involvement must for Kashmir issue solution: CM Mehbooba Mufti
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Occupied Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday batted for revival of talks with Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir issue but said the neighbour’s positive contribution is very necessary to “open closed roads” in the state.
Speaking at a public event in New Delhi, she said the recent NIA raids and arrest of separatists leaders in the Kashmir Valley was a temporary measure and not a solution to address the real problem.
“The PDP-BJP alliance has been on the belief and hope that we will be able to revive the magic of (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji’s time... Vajpayee ji did it,” she said in her keynote address at the Understanding Kashmir session hosted by social group BRIEF.
Citing the Lahore declaration in which Pakistan had assured that it will not allow its land to be used against anti-India activities, Mehbooba said, “We have to revive that... in spite of Kargil and attack on the Parliament house...
“We have had some setbacks but we need to revive it, if we want that the closed roads in Jammu and Kashmir open, then Pakistan’s positive contribution is very necessary,” she said.
She said the idea of ‘azadi’ in the minds of people of the state needs to be replaced with something else and drew attention to the 2005 working groups constituted to address the internal dimensions of the Kashmir issue.