J&K CM Mehbooba pitches for dialogue with Pak

Jammu/Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday pitched afresh for a dialogue between India and Pakistan to end the violence in the restive state, even as a gunfight raged between terrorists and security forces in Srinagar.

The chief minister also hit out at some media houses, which, she claimed, have created an atmosphere in which the very talk of talks was considered anti-national.

 “If Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti say hold talks with Pakistan, they are dubbed anti-national. There is no alternative (to resolve the issue) except by holding talks,” Mehbooba told the state Assembly in Jammu.

“If we (the Kashmiris) don’t talk about it (dialogue), who will? Not a Bihari, not a Punjabi,” she said.

A CRPF constable was killed in a gunfight with terrorists in downtown Srinagar after security forces foiled militants’ attempts to strike a CRPF camp. The militants were still holed up in an abandoned house in Karan Nagar in the heart of the city where intermittent firing was on.

“We have fought three wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971 and have won all of them, even Kargil war, but our basic problem has not been resolved,” she said, insisting a solution to the Kashmir question lay in talks alone.

Noting that Kashmiris were losing lives on the borders and in hinterland, civilians or security personnel, she said she was happy that both the opposition and the ruling parties in the state favoured dialogue for conflict resolution.

BJP seeks arrest of Akbar Lone

Jammu: BJP MLCs from Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday demanded that an FIR should be lodged against the National Conference (NC) MLA Akbar Lone, who raised pro-Pakistan slogans in the state Assembly. The MLCs further staged a protest demanding arrest of the Lone and withdrawal of an FIR that has been filed against the Army in Shopian killing. “An MLA who has taken oath in the name of the Constitution is raising pro-Pakistan slogans cannot be expected by anyone. We demand an FIR against the MLA and his suspension from the post,” BJP MLA Ramesh Arora siad.  Expressing similar views, Surinder Ambardar told ANI, “NC MLA Akbar Lone has violated the basic law of the Constitution by raising pro-Pak slogans. So, we believe that an FIR should be lodged.”