Modi not under pressure to talk reconciliation with Pak: Mufti

Facing questions over Prime Minister's silence on Pakistan during his Srinagar rally last week, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said Narendra Modi is not under "any pressure" to talk about it even as he observed that reconciliation with the neighbour is "my dream".
Sayeed said reconciliation with Pakistan is on the agenda of the ruling PDP-BJP alliance of Jammu and Kashmir and that he will pursue it with Modi as it is important for ushering in peace in the militancy-hit state.
"Modi is not under any pressure to talk about Pakistan," the PDP leader said at a press conference here when asked why he termed the Prime Minister's rally in Srinagar on November 7 as "historic" even though he did not talk about reconciliation with Pakistan.

"It (reconciliation with Pakistan) is there. I have high hope on that. (But) why should we make Prime Minister say everything like that (talk about reconciliation with Pakistan)? Why should he say that? He is not under pressure to say that," Mufti said while replying to a volley of questions on the Prime Minister's rally in Srinagar.
Modi, during his rally, focussed on development of Jammu and Kashmir and made no mention about Pakistan even though Mufti had wanted him to make some ice-breaking announcement like the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did in 2003.
"I met the Prime Minister in private and impressed upon him that it will be good to talk to Pakistan the way Atal Bihari Vajpayee did. But he is PM of the country," Mufti said.

Underlining that "there is no option except reconciliation" with Pakistan, he said, "I have been insisting on that. It is a process. It is not necessary that the PM will accept everything like this as of now. In the end, it is PM's own choice whether to touch any subject or not; I am not a dictator who will dictate all things to him."

Asserting that "I will not give up my effort", the Chief Minister said, "it will be my endeavour to pursue it with the PM to have reconciliation and that is my dream."
In response to questions, he said, "You (media) should not jump to conclusions. Everything is an evolutionary process... Reconciliation with Pakistan, it is on the agenda of the alliance."

He said if there is friendship with Pakistan, "we will be bestowed with peace here (in the state). During the Vajpayee's period, he got peace and everything was peaceful."
Asked whether Modi is proving to be difficult for him as compared to Vajpayee as far as holding talks with Pakistan is concerned, Mufti said, "during my previous meetings with him, Modi has been totally focused on Jammu and Kashmir on development front. Good governance and development."
He said, "When he (Modi) entered into alliance with me, it (reconciliation with Pakistan) is written there, that there will be friendly relations with the neighbouring country. It is not possible that Mufti will achieve everything in one go. It is important that I be able to create atmosphere of friendship between two countries.