- ‘There is no alternative to reconciliation between Pakistan and India, and Kashmiri people
Mehbooba Mufti, the chief minister of the Indian-held Jammu Kashmir, has said having Pakistan on board is as important as talking to the Hurriyat Conference, as Pakistan has its own role to play in the Kashmir issue.
“There is a feeling that having Pakistan on board is as important as talking to the Hurriyat. Pakistan has its own role to play. There is no alternative to reconciliation between Pakistan and India, and the Kashmiri people. There is no other way out, but the time factor is very important,” she said in an interview with senior Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari for the Rising Kashmir newspaper.
“We also need to think about taking other measures, like opening up Jammu Kashmir to the outside world. “If you look at Pakistan, in the other part [Azad Jammu Kashmir] which is with them they have built the economic corridor – the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC), the dams and so many things. Then China had taken a part of us; they are also using that,” Mehbooba pointed out.
“So we are still busy, 70 years down the line, in containing the Kashmiri people, their anger or their emotions,” she said. “It is the fault of the Kashmiri as well as the Indian leadership, whosoever was there (in India) right from (former Indian prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru. We need to think what we can do with the state. “We can also think about out-of-the-box things and see that it becomes a happening place with all the other countries of the SAARC,” she said.
She also said that the Kashmiri Pandits have been asking why they cannot visit Sharda Peeth in the Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir. Sikhs from Rajouri want to go to the other side, she said, adding that they (Sikhs) have some gurdwaras there. About the self-rule, she said that this idea was not some book of literature, but it was something which was very practicable.
“It is something that is for today and tomorrow. It is a futuristic document which will bring both Kashmirs closer without undermining the sovereignty of India and also satisfy the emotional urge of people on both the sides,” she said, adding that military was not at all the only solution. “The military has its own job cut out for it. It has to deal with militancy, not only with militants but militancy, which is a thought,” she said.
“As far as these young kids or youth are concerned, we need to have a multidimensional approach whether it is through sports, dialogue, culture, education, so many things have to happen at the same time,” she said, adding that they (young people) need to be engaged through various ways and means. “I think teachers again have to become father figures and reach out to kids,” the chief minister said.
She said that the entire society – politicians, parents, and teachers – have to get together, and if “we do not do that then we will lose one more generation.” She said that parents should not allow if there was a situation like that of 2016, every parent has a duty to ensure that their kids were safe and sound within the four walls of their home. “So why would they send their kids out, why would they do that? So many kids got hurt, many kids even died,” she said.
“I am a parent and I would not allow my kids to go out when there is a situation like that,” she said. “We have seen politicians leaving in the heat of the moment and then blaming governors and everybody for whatever happens after that. I would always like to fight till the end,” she said. “I do not want to be responsible for running away from my duty,” the Kashmiri leader said.
“I feel hurt as there was a time when I would enter these army camps and get these boys out and fight with everybody for them. And then, there was a time when these kids were on the streets, trying to fight with the army and the police with stones in their hands,” she said. “Not only in Kupwara, I fought with the Indian Army and the State Task Force in Kapran and Dooru areas and so many other places. I do not defend the actions of the Indian Army when they do something wrong,” she said.
“But how can we allow our kids to go and pick a fight with the army by throwing stones at an army camp or pick a fight with the police by throwing stones or even, at times, bottles filled with petrol at a police station. We know there is going to be some kind of retaliation. It is so dangerous,” Mehbooba said. She said that the kids do not have the fear of the army, as the general exposure of what was happening globally was making them bolder.