Only India will help develop Kashmir: Mehbooba

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged the people of the state to respect India as a nation and not to distance itself from the rest of the nation.

While addressing the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Mehbooba said that the state's development will be hindered if it did not show faith in the Indian constitution.

While addressing the state assembly here, Mufti asked, "If we don't believe in the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, if we don't believe in the country's constitution, then what do we believe in? Then what are you going to get? Where will you get anything from?"

"Ours is the most empowered assembly in the country. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented in the entire nation at once, except Jammu and Kashmir, where it was implemented only after a proper debate in this assembly", she added.

Mufti further stated that she wants to put it on record that whatever the people of Jammu and Kashmir would get, they would get it only from India and nowhere else.

Mufti's statement comes days after she, in an open plea, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan to bury the hatchet and become friends for the sake of the locals and jawans on the border.

"I request Pakistanis across the border and my country's Prime Minister to help the people of Jammu and Kashmir come out of this mess and protect our jawans by finding solutions, holding dialogues and becoming friends", said Mufti, while addressing a rally in Kashmir's Anantnag district on Sunday.