Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said the Centre had only three ways to keep Kashmir — “return Article 370 along with interest, talk to Pakistan and address the Kashmir issue”.
“Anger and guns are no way to address a problem. Americans tried it in Afghanistan but could not rule the place. When I ask them [the Centre] to have a dialogue with Pakistan, I am described anti-national. The same people are now talking to Taliban and China, the same country which has set up a village in Arunachal Pradesh and entered into Ladakh. Why do they get angry when I advocate dialogue?” Ms. Mufti said addressing a rally at Neel village of Banihal in the Jammu region.
She said those who had been betrayed should be angry, those whose safety was taken away should be angry and those who were silenced should be angry. “One day, our anger will speak,” Ms. Mufti said, a day after she was placed under house arrest in Srinagar and stopped from visiting the victim families of the Hyderpora incident.
Calling for unity among people, Ms. Mufti said, “People need to struggle in support of the restoration of special status guaranteed by the Constitution”.
The PDP chief said Jammu and Kashmir had decided its fate with the India of Mahatma Gandhi, which gave Jammu and Kashmir Article 370, our own constitution and flag. “If they want to keep Jammu and Kashmir with them, they have to restore Article 370, hold dialogue with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir issue,” she said.
