No dialogue possible amid bullets, stones: Mehbooba
MEETING THE PM Modi believes in Vajpayee’s approach to peace, says J&K CM
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “amenable” to talks with all stakeholders to restore peace in the region but that no dialogue was possible in the face of bullets and stones.
Mufti made the comments after meeting Modi in New Delhi on a day violence spiralled in Kashmir.
She referred to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s more moderate vision for Kashmir, and said Modi too believed in that approach to peace. “Modiji has said he will follow in the footsteps of Vajpayeeji, whose policy was of reconciliation...,” Mufti said. “There is no option but to talk, but it can’t happen amid stone-throwing, bullets.”
Vajpayee’s government was the first to hold talks with Kashmiri separatists in 2004. Asked if Modi was prepared to talk to the separatists, Mufti said, “We need to pick up from where Vajpayeeji left, otherwise the situation will never improve”.
There was no immediate confirmation of this from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Kashmir has remained largely paralysed since July when government forces shot dead a young militant leader, Burhan Wani, touching off months of deadly street protests. The government responded with force, leaving more than 100 people dead.
Violence spiked again this month after eight people were killed during a by-election in Srinagar.
Since then, several video clips purportedly showing alleged human rights abuses by security forces have also added to public anger, often manifested in large throngs of stone-throwing crowds taking small groups of well-armed security forces.
Mufti also met Union home minister Rajnath Singh.
After the meeting she said the situation in Kashmir would improve in 2-3 months but did not spell out how.
The PDP became hugely unpopular after forming a governing alliance with the BJP in 2015, and much of Mufti’s rule has been spent trying to douse the violence. The chief minister has pushed the Centre for talks with the separatists in the hope of assuaging popular anger.