Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday pleaded for talks between the militants in the state and the Centre at an “appropriate time”.
While speaking to reporters in southern Anantnag, she said that though the engagement between the two sides was not possible at this juncture it could be held at an appropriate time towards bringing about lasting peace in the state. She also said that the militant leadership should be talked to along with Pakistan and separatists.
Later during the day, while reacting to a report carried by a private national TV channel saying that her seeking to “legitimise terror for a clutch of votes was a shocker”, Ms Mufti tweeted, “Embellished & fictitious stories is no shocker from this channel. For a bunch of TRPs why peddle patent nonsense? Such diabolical stories and headlines have only deepened the schisms and sense of alienation Kashmiris feel vis-a-vis the country.”
Meanwhile, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday reiterated that coalition governments in J&K have proved detrimental to State’s interests and that the need of the hour is to have a strong and single mandated government to carry forward the agenda of peace, development and reconciliation.
Speaking to party functionaries and workers at Chawalgam in Kulgam district, he said, “It augments good for a state like that of ours to have a strong mandated government, which has an ideologically defined position, and a vested interest in protecting state’s position and giving honest governance.”
He added, “A decisive leadership is what will salvage the state from tumultuous times, and guard the special position against the onslaught of those who are contriving hard to destroy it.”
