Former Jammu and Kahmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reciprocate to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan’s offer to resolve the Kashmir matter through dialogue.
Khan, in his first public address on Thursday as he claimed victory in Pakistan’s general elections, said his government would be ready to improve ties with India and resolve all disputes, including Kashmir, through talks.
“I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi...A new government will be formed in Pakistan and there will be a new prime minister, who has extended a hand of friendship towards India,” Mufti said at a rally in Srinagar, according to PTI news agency. “He [Khan] spoke of dialogue. He [Modi] should respond to it positively. It is my request that he [Modi] should grab the opportunity and respond positively to the offer of friendship by Imran Khan.”
Mufti, the president of Peoples Democratic Party, said upcoming national elections should not become an impediment in starting the reconciliation process with Pakistan. She further said that during her time as the chief minister, she had called on Modi and discussed with him the importance to hold a dialogue with Pakistan.
“To solve the Kashmir issue we always raised our voice, but vested interests always created problems in the name of Article 370 and 35A [of the Constitution],” Mufti said, according to ANI. However, she added that her government was successful in convincing the Bharatiya Janata Party to make a commitment that Article 370 will not be touched.
Mufti said she had reservations about the alliance between Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP right from the beginning and had advised her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed against it. She also said she did not want to be the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir when her father died in 2016.
“It was like drinking a cup of poison,” she said about the coalition government, according to NDTV.
The BJP walked out of a three-year alliance with the Peoples Democratic Alliance on June 19, leading to the collapse of the state government. Jammu and Kashmir has been under the Governor’s rule since.
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