Only talks can bring long lasting peace, stability to Valley: Mufti

SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that only meaningful engagement between India and Pakistan and the leadership of the state can resolve decades-old Kashmir conflict and accord permanent peace to the region.

Chairing an important meeting of party’s top leadership and important functionaries of Kashmir and Ladakh, Mehbooba in handout issued to media said that it is high time for all the political forces to come together and make strenuous efforts in unison to get Jammu and Kashmir out of the present uncertainty, “bloodshed, mayhem” and chaos.

Mehbooba said that the world has now realized Kashmir issue if allowed to remain unsettled, could become a major cause for pushing both India and Pakistan towards the brink of a nuclear war.

She said that it is high time that both the countries for their greater common good address Kashmir issue on priority and to begin with, PDP’s Self Rule formula is the best option as already described by the saner voices of South Asia.

The PDP president asserted that after the 2014 polls, the government in Jammu and Kashmir wasn’t formed for the petty power but in the larger interests of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and get the people out of the squalid conditions. The government was formed to ensure the peace returns and the perturbed people of the state could heave a sigh of relief from bloodshed, mayhem and uncertainty, said the PDP president, adding that the core motive of the PDP has always been to get India and Pakistan on table to talk peace and end the decades of conflict, the brunt of which is primarily been borne by the innocent people of the state.

Asking party members to work with greater zeal to help mitigate sufferings of the people, Mehbooba asserted that PDP and it’s cadre will play a pivotal role in structuring and executing any effective formulation to get people of the state out of the morass.

Party patron Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, party vice president A R Veeri, General Secretary Gh Nabi Lone Hanjoora and Abdul Haq Khan also addressed the gathering.

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