Collective efforts need to resolve Kashmir issue: Mehbooba

Observing that situation in Kashmir depends on Indo-Pak relations, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today emphasised the need for collective efforts of people of India for resolving the issue related to the state which is "unique" in nature.
Mehbooba said Jammu and Kashmir was not like "other normal states" and though it was easy to become the Chief Minister, it was a difficult task to handle the state.
Jammu and Kashmir is a "unique issue" which requires that the "political process and the governance must go together", she said, adding "Only a Chief Minister or Prime Minister cannot resolve this issue. It has to be resolved by the people of our country."

Addressing a function on the outskirts of Jammu, she said, "The Kashmir situation also depends on the role of Pakistan and if our relation with that country is good then it has a good impact in the state."
Referring to the recent visit by an all-party delegation of MPs to the state, Mehbooba said "it was the beauty of the democracy of our country that when the interest of the country came, leaders of various political parties didn't care for their self-esteem and went to the doorsteps" of the people for peace.
"The issue will be resolved when all political parties of the nation unite...To bring peace in the state. Our Home Minister visited the state thrice and then came with an all-party delegation," she said.

Mehbooba said "our country's big leaders" like Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M), D Raja of CPI, Sharad Yadav of JD(U) and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM "came to us for the sake of our children. Such honourable people went to the doorsteps (of separatists), but the doors were shut on them...

"I want to salute them and tell them that their effort has not gone waste and the people of the state understand that guests had come and if you (separatists) did not want to talk you could have shown courtesy by not closing the door. We will not let the opportunity slip."

The Chief Minister said some people only want "violence and bloodshed" which, according to her, would not resolve any issue.
"We don't believe in bloodshed because the democracy of the country is strong enough to look after the people of the state. We need not to see anywhere else but towards the democracy of the country," she said.
Mehbooba thanked the Home Minister for appointing a nodal officer in Delhi for the students from Jammu and Kashmir.
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The Chief Minister said that she wants the walls of hate to fall down and let hearts meet.
"Despite several provocations, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh went to Pakistan but was it the way they should have treated him like this," Mehbooba said.

370 people were arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the government will review their cases but the process had to be shelved due to the unrest and will begin soon. There were 138 others who were lodged in jails, she said.
Apealing to the Opposition to help her "heal" the wounds of the people, she said, "I strongly feel that the situation was not sudden and going on for several years. My request is that be it 2010 or 2016 it should not have happened, either on your time or ours. Help us to heal the wounds of the people and to bring them out of this," she said.

On the allegations that preparations were not made to handle the situation post the Burhan Wani encounter, Mehbooba said that the encounter happened all of sudden and immediately curfew was declared but it could not be fully imposed as large number of security forces were deployed for the Amarnath yatra.
"Even the Army avoids an encounter if they feel that collateral damage will be high," she added.
Mehbooba asseerted that her government is committed to bring the youth of Kashmir, who have taken guns, to the mainstream.
"I am committed that those who want to return and are not indulged in any terrorist activity want to come back, we would help them come back in mainstream," she said.

In the six encounters that took place in the past two months, six boys surrendered after their families appeal to them.
"One of them was not even knowing how to fire a bullet," the chief minister said.