Mehbooba calls Modi’s Lahore visit ‘a sign of strength’

• IHK chief minister criticises ex-PM Manmohan for ‘avoiding’ visit to Pakistan

Chief Minister of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that only Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can resolve the Kashmir issue as he has a strong mandate and appealed to him to pull the ‘valley out of chaos.’

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a flyover in Jammu, she claimed that the situation in the disputed state was the result of pent up anger due to failure of the Congress-led former government to continue with the policy started by the previous NDA government.

“I say today with authority and I will be criticised for it also. If anyone can find a solution to Jammu Kashmir problem, it is Prime Minister Modi, as he (Modi) has a strong mandate. Whatever decision he takes, India will support him,” she said.

“If anyone can take us out of the sticky spot, it is Prime Minister Modi. The nation will support whatever he decides,” she said. Hailing the Indian prime minister’s decision to visit Lahore on December 25, 2015, she said that it was a sign of strength not weakness.

“He (Modi) has the mandate of the people. This is his biggest power. He went to Lahore and met Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. This is not a sign of weakness but an indication of strength and power,” she told the gathering.

She also criticised former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh for not visiting Pakistan due to not having enough courage. “Before him (Modi), a prime minister had also desired to go to Pakistan for over 10 years. He wanted to see his home there,” she said, with naming Manmohan.

“He (Manmohan) also would have tried to end the confrontation between Pakistan and India, and bring Jammu Kashmir out of this unfortunate situation, but he had no courage to do that,” she said, and gave credit to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed for starting the chapter of peace in Jammu Kashmir in 2002.

“They tried their best to bring out Kashmir out of this unfortunate situation. He was successful to a large extent in shortest of period,” she Mufti said. “There was ceasefire (along Line of Control) during Vajpayee’s rule. There were talks with LK Advani in Kashmir. There was beginning of the process of opening cross-LoC roads.”

The chief minister said that the ‘militancy’ declined during that period and there was peace on the Line of Control. “These were not small developments. But unfortunately my father was out of the government and Vajpayeeji left, and the process came to grinding halt,” she said.

She alleged that the former Indian government and the state government did not carry forward the process thinking “everything is peaceful and there is no need to do anything further.” She said that there was pent-up lava. “It started to come out when the youths were out on the streets in 2008 and then 2009 and 2010,” she said.

“This lava has now spread to the streets and we are forced to face this situation,” she said. She also said while her government was trying to improve the situation in Kashmir, there were some forces which do not want it.