Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said there was an urgent need for dialogue to improve the deteriorating situation in the State, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared amenable to that course of action.
Ms. Mufti called on the Prime Minister and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. She expressed the hope that the situation would improve in the next 2-3 months after which dialogue could be initiated with stakeholders. “I understand that the coming 2-3 months are crucial for us. The situation of Jammu and Kashmir will change and improve. We will first restore the normalcy, then talks can be resumed,” she said after her meeting with Mr. Singh.
Vajpayee’s policy
In the 20-minute meeting with Mr. Modi, she invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s policy on Kashmir, and said the thread should be picked up from where he had left off — a not so subtle suggestion for talks with separatists.
“However, an atmosphere needs to be created for a dialogue. Talks cannot happen amid stone pelting and firing of bullets,” she said. “Talks are the only option,” Ms. Mufti added. “How long can you have a confrontation,” she said. “Talks with Hurriyat [Conference] had taken place when Vajpayeeji was the Prime Minister and L.K. Advaniji was the Deputy Prime Minister. We need to start from where Vajpayeeji left. Talks are the only way out,” she said.
“Prime Minister Modi has an intention to hold talks after the situation normalises somewhat,” she said.
Rising tensions between the coalition partners, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP, over the handling of the security situation in Kashmir also came up at the meeting with Mr. Modi, who had, in turn held a long meeting of the BJP core group last week and discussed the matter threadbare.
The coalition has also come under strain when the PDP lost a seat in the recently held MLC polls with an independent MLA voting in favour of BJP candidate Vikram Randhawa, leading to his victory. “Whatever happened should not have taken place. But this is an internal matter and we will resolve it with the BJP,” Ms. Mufti said.
‘No rift’
BJP general secretary in charge of party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav, said that while intra coalition issues were being sorted, the call for dialogue was to be taken at a different level. “There is no rift between BJP and PDP. There were some issues regarding MLC elections but they are being sorted. We are with the Chief Minister and we could initiate dialogue but call has to be taken at the highest level,” he said.
Referring to the increase in stone-pelting incidents in the Valley, Ms. Mufti said there were some young people who were “disillusioned” while some were being “instigated,” often through the use of social media sites such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
Unified Command meet
She said the issue would be discussed at the meeting of the Unified Command on Tuesday. The GOC-in-C Northern Command; GOC 16 Corps; GOC 15 corps; DGP, J&K; IG, BSF; IG, CRPF; senior officers of the IB and RAW; and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh will participate in the meeting in Srinagar.
