Militants 'sons of soil', talk to them: Mehbooba Mufti urges govt

Terming local militants as "sons of soil", PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday said efforts should be made to save them, adding the Centre should initiate dialogue with the militant leadership in Jammu and Kashmir to end the "gun culture". The PDP president had on Monday questioned the timing of filing of charge sheet in the 2016 JNU sedition case, in which seven Kashmiris have been named, saying the students were being used to score political points ahead of Lok Sabha elections. "Timing of the charge sheet couldn't be any more suspicious. When UPA was in power, it decided to send Afzal Guru to the gallows and to this day, J&K is paying a price," she said.