Mehbooba leaves Kashmir to Modi
J&K CM says only PM has the mandate
Manmohan Singh too actually wanted to have a solution to this issue (by visiting Pakistan) but couldn’t do it as he lacked the strength.” — MEHBOOBA MUFTI J&K Chief Minister
J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone could resolve the Kashmir issue and take its people out of the bog.
“Humein daldal se koi agar bahar nikal sakta hai toh woh PM Modi hain. Woh jo faisla karenge, mulk support karega (If there is anyone who can take us out the bog it is PM Modi. The decision he takes will be supported by the country)”, she said.
The statement comes at a time when the relations between her ruling PDP and government ally BJP are said to be deteriorating. The BJP state unit and the RSS have been questioning her ways of checking escalating violence in the Valley.
The CM said that Mr Modi enjoyed the mandate of the people of the country to address issues such as Kashmir, and was the only hope left for the people of the state to take them out of the quagmire.
“The previous Prime Minister also wanted to go to Pakistan but he couldn’t summon up the courage. Mr Modi went to Lahore which is a sign of the power he enjoys and an example of his moral authority,” she said after inaugurating a flyover in Jammu.
She said, “He (former PM Manmohan Singh) had repeatedly said he wants to visit his ancestral home in Lahore. It was an excuse as he too actually wanted to have a solution to this issue but couldn’t do it as he lacked the strength.”
Mr Modi had made a surprise visit to Lahore on his way back from Afghanistan in December 2015. It was the first visit to Paksistan by an Indian Prime Minister in a decade.
Her statement came on a day BJP president Amit Shah said that the government would not hold any talks in Kashmir unless violence stops.
“The Modi government has clarified before the Supreme Court that it would not hold any talks unless violence stops in J&K,” he said in Agartala. He said the government and security agencies are working on a strategy to tackle the situation.
The CM reiterated that her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had successfully worked towards improving relations with Pakistan but these were again unhinged as a result of lack of initiatives by the UPA governments.