Mehbooba Mufti (Source: Express Photo)
JAMMU AND Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday dismissed the idea that either the United States or China should intervene to help resolve the Kashmir imbroglio. She also urged the Centre and the Pakistan government to channelise their resources in solving the problems facing their own people rather than focusing on war, or a war-like atmosphere.
Mufti was reacting to National Conference (NC) patron and Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah’s remarks on Friday that the US and China’s intervention is required to solve the Kashmir issue. She said, “Farooq saheb has his own style…. There was a time when he used to say that the problem of Kashmir can be solved by bombarding the other side (PoK, Pakistan). I believe China and America has no role in Kashmir. We have to solve it together — India, Pakistan, and the people of Kashmir.”
Interacting with the media after inaugurating a tourist centre at Anantnag, Mufti said that China has its own set of problems to solve, while the Americans have messed up the local situation anywhere they have intervened. “Wherever America has put its hand — any place in the world, be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria — destruction has followed (in its wake). Similarly, China has its own issues,” she said.
Mufti said that India and Pakistan were wasting their resources in aggressive war posturing, while those resources can be utilised to provide basic facilities to the people. “Both countries should see how they will provide basic facilities to their citizens. Our money is being wasted (on war measures) — we (people of Kashmir) are getting killed, as are people on the other side (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir),” she said.
Mufti urged the neighbouring countries to end this confrontation and live peacefully, so that they can channelise their resources in fighting problems staring at their own people.
