J&K borders should connect South Asia: Mehbooba Mufti

MUMBAI: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, on Friday, expressed that the borders of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) should be free to connect South Asia.

“The efforts to make borders relevant is the way forward to address the issue within the state,” she opined. 

Mehbooba was speaking at the programme ‘The Way Forward’, which was organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

“All the SAARC countries have to come together and make Jammu and Kashmir a model of co-operation of the SAARC countries. Let’s have a SAARC office of all the countries in J&K, maybe a handcraft university or a Buddhist university in Ladakh. There are many things, which we can do,” she said.

“Why can’t we have Sharadapeeth like Kartarpur. No one is denying that Kashmir is an integral part of the country. The land is not going anywhere. But make people also an integral part of you. Unless the politicians here don’t identify the pain of people like Vajpayee did, they will continue to cut ties,” she said.

“Kashmiris are called radicals, but calling them radicals is like just giving a dog a bad name and killing him. Kashmiries are as secular at heart like every other Indian and they are the citizens of India,” she said. 

Explaining the issue of Kashmir, she said that there is no connect between the Central government and the people of Kashmir. The Kashmiris don’t have trust in the Central government. 

“When there are problems in other states like farmers’ issue or reservation agitation and the state government is not able to sort it out, the people go to New Delhi. In Kashmiris’ case, it could not happen. Because they don’t believe that going to New Delhi will sort out the issue, so they look beyond the border,” she said.

While reacting to the question about the formation of a government with BJP, she said it was a mistake. PDP joined the Narendra Modi government only to restart the initiative of late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Vajpayee was the first person and PM who really cared for Kashmiris,” she said.  

Recalling the bond between her father and former J&K CM late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Vajpayee, she said both had a similar vision and tried to bridge that trust deficit as Kashmiris saw in Vajpayeeji for the first time. “That time was seen as the golden period for Kashmir, as the CM and the PM were for the first time on the same page,” she said.

“Modiji had a clear mandate and people thought he will reach out to the people of Kashmir like Vajpayeeji. Unfortunately, he couldn’t accept the way of talks. Due to which violence in Kashmir has increased,” she said, explaining her party’s stand of going with BJP. 

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan is also positive for talks, now it’s our turn. “Our country also has to consider the way,” she said. 

When asked about joining Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) with Congress, she said,” Our party’s strength is very minimum and so we didn’t think over it. But we will decide after observing the undercurrents and the political scenario at that time.”

“Many Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir, our party tried to make them return. Basically, Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir, which was not a proud moment for us. After Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir, Kashmir faced a huge loss in fields of education, culture and small-scale industries,” she said. 

While talking on Babri, she said that the Central government has to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict like Rafale.