India-Pakistan reconciliation only way to stop terror attacks: PDP chief

Days after the Ganderbal terror attack, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said Jammu and Kashmir is bearing the brunt of the animosity between India and Pakistan, and reconciliation between the two is the only way to stop such incidents.

Seven people a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed and five injured when terrorists attacked their camp in Gund in Ganderbal district on Sunday. The labourers were working on a tunnel project.

"The people of J&K are stuck in the animosity between the two countries. Their lives and their property are getting destroyed because the two countries are fighting each other. J&K is bearing the brunt and the poor non-local labourers are also suffering because of that," Mehbooba told reporters after visiting the residence of Dr Shahnawaz Dar, who was killed in Sunday's attack, in Naidgam village of Budgam district.

The former chief minister said Dar was serving the people and was an honourable man but suffered because of the animosity between the two countries.

"Until both the countries sit together, talk in a cordial manner and take the path of reconciliation like (former prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee, the people of J&K and the rest of the country will continue to witness such incidents," she said.

Dar was posted at the tunnel construction site by APCO Infratech, the infrastructure company he was working for.

Mehbooba refused to comment on National Conference president Farooq Abdullah's recent remarks that there can be no talks with Pakistan unless it stops violence.

"Every person in J&K, not just Mehbooba Mufti, wants this violence to end and that the two countries sit together and talk so that we get out of this bloodshed," she said.