Only PM can resolve Kashmir unrest and take us out of quagmire: CM Mufti

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said on Saturday that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, alone can resolve Kashmir 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 Prime Minister Modi. The decision he take will be supported by the country)”, she said.

The Chief Minister said that Modi enjoyed the mandate of the people of the country to address the issues like Kashmir hence 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 courage. Prime Minister Modi went to Lahore which is a sign of power he enjoys and an example of his moral authority,” she said after inaugurating a newly constructed 1.5 km flyover in winter capital Jammu. She said, “He (former Prime Minister 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.” The PM Modi had made a surprise visit to Lahore on his way back from Afghanistan in December 2015. It was the first visit by the Indian Prime Minister in a decade.

Mufti reiterated that it were her later father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the then Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee who successfully worked  towards improving relations with Pakistan but these were again unhinged as a result of lack of initiatives by the UPA governments. Recalling the “path breaking initiatives” of the three-year Mufti government beginning in 2002, she said India and Pakistan signed historical ceasefire agreement along their borders and started the cross-LoC bus and truck services.  But such initiative could not be taken forward and the lava back in Kashmir was simmering and the same surfaced in 2008 and 2010 and it is what the Valley is witnessing again, she said and added, “I’m saying it again and know I will be criticised  but if anyone can solve Kashmir issue it is Prime Modi.”

The Chief Minister while complimenting the people of Jammu for their having maintained communal harmony and brotherhood “despite provocations” said that nobody would be allowed to disturb the peaceful atmosphere and mischief mongers would be dealt with sternly. “Whosoever takes law in own hands would be dealt with appropriately”, she said and cautioned people against “nefarious designs” of some “negative elements” who wanted to derail the developmental process in Jammu region by creating an atmosphere of hate.

The Chief Minister’s statement calling Modi as the ‘only hope’ came on a day when  BJP president Amit Shah said that the government would not hold any talks in Jammu and Kashmir unless the violence stops. “The Modi government has already clarified before the Supreme Court that it would not hold any talks unless the violence stops in Jammu and Kashmir,” he told reporters in Agartala. He said the government and security agencies are working on a strategy to tackle the situation in the restive state.

[Attn. Editors: The NC’s reaction to CM’s assertion can go with the main copy or separately. In the latter case open the story with

Main opposition party National Conference (NC) while reacting to the Chief Minister’s assertions termed it as her “sycophancy” and said that the same has humiliated Kashmiris. “Has she forgotten how Modi insulted Mufti Sahib?” it asked.

The NC said that the Chief Minister’s continued and unconditional loyalty to the BJP and the Prime Minister in light of her declaration that Modi was Kashmir’s ‘only hope’ despite the Central government’s refusal to even acknowledge the political nature of the Kashmir issue her “sycophancy is unbecoming and has denigrated the sanctity of the J&K Chief Minister’s office”. The party spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu said in a signed statement that Mufti’s unilateral declaration of loyalty to the Prime Minister vis-a-vis the resolution of the Kashmir issue was astounding as the Prime Minister had publicly snubbed and humiliated her father “by curtly telling him that he doesn’t require any advice on Kashmir during a public rally in Srinagar”.  The spokesman said, “Either Mehbooba Mufti is suffering from amnesia or she is willing to oversee the humiliation meted out to her late father by the same Prime Minister. We have a Prime Minister who refuses to accept the political nature of the Kashmir issue and somehow Mehbooba Mufti sees the same Prime Minister as Kashmir’s ‘only hope’. This is another ironic statement made by the Chief Minister in line with earlier absurd and ironic statements”.

The NC also said that the Chief Minister would do well to remember how late Mufti openly declared that Prime Minister Modi was a ‘Toofaan Ka Aadmi’ and expressed similar “unfounded and unrealistic” optimism in his political will to resolve the Kashmir issue. “What was the outcome of that optimism apart from BJP publicly and officially demolishing every single promise made in the alleged ‘Agenda of the Alliance’? There is not a single promise made in the ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ that BJP has not belittled and ridiculed and despite all of this Mehbooba Mufti shamelessly indulges in this sycophancy which is unbecoming of a CM”, the party spokesman said.

He said that Mufti’s declaration of Modi being Kashmir’s “only hope” was ironic and ridiculous in the backdrop of the Advocate General of India’s statement in the Supreme Court ruling out any possibility of talks with various stakeholders in Kashmir including the separatists. “Did Mehbooba Ji not read that statement made by the Advocate General in the SC? Her allies have openly humiliated her and continue to humiliate her and sadly it seems like she has become insult-proof in order to remain glued to her chair. The BJP has opposed the revocation of AFSPA, opposed the return of power projects and formally ruled out any political initiative vis-a-vis Kashmir. Is this the ‘only hope’ Mehbooba Mufti is talking about?”, Mattu asked.