Mufti meets Modi, seeks help to end J& K violence

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help towards finding ways to end bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and growing alienation among its youth.

She, during her meeting with the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Monday, also sought frequent engagement at top political level between India and Pakistan to arrive on an amicable solution of Kashmir imbroglio. She called for a similar rendezvous between the two countries’ military authorities to put an end to border skirmishes “which bring with them enormous amount of miseries’ for the people living in close proximity of the divide line.

This comes days after the chief minister had made a passionate appeal to the country’s political leadership that it should while cutting across party lines listen to the “voices of pain” from Jammu and Kashmir and support the people of the state in getting out of “vicious cycle of violence and uncertainty”.

The chief minister at her meeting with Mr Modi apprised him about the overall obtaining situation in her state in the wake of recent turbulence triggered by the killing of 13 Hizb- ul- Mujahideen militants and five civilians in security forces stepped up counterinsurgency measures.

Ms Mufti, said an official spokesman in Jammu, urged the Prime Minister “to find ways and means to end the cycle of violence in the state by addressing the element of alienation among youth”. She reiterated that the people of the state who have suffered immensely during the turmoil of past three decades look up to the country’s political leadership to support them in getting out of this cycle of uncertainty and deaths.

She also asked for peaceful engagement with all stakeholders in this regard and sought more frequent meetings at the highest levels between India and Pakistan besides favouring the idea that the top military leadership of the two countries should stay in touch with each other to minimise the level of tension across the borders as frequent skirmishes have resulted into huge suffering to tens of thousands of people living in villages in close proximity to the Line of Control ( LoC) and international border ( IB) in J& K. She also pleaded for taking the cross- LoC movement to next higher level.

High time for the entire country to support the people of J& K in getting out of the vicious cycle of killings and uncertainty — Mehbooba Mufti, J& K CM