Mehbooba Mufti says only Modi can solve Kashmir

Excelsior Correspondent

 Jammu:  Chief minister  Mehbooba Mufti  on Saturday said  only prime minister Narendra Modi can bring solution to the Kashmir problem. She said the PM has huge a mandate and the nation will support his  any decision on it.

“ I am saying it again and know I will be criticised, but if any one can solve Kashmir issue it’s PM Modi. He has a huge mandate of the people of the country. So what ever decision he will take the nation will support him,” said the CM at a function in Jammu.

The statement by CM is quite significant as opposition is blaming  the PDP-BJP alliance for the current unrest in the valley.

“It’s sign of the strength that the PM Modi visited Lahore in just an hour. It’s not a weakness,” she said.

The PM Modi had made a surprise visit to the Lahore in Dec 2015  on his way back from Afghanistan. It was the first visit by the  Indian PM in a decade.

Mehbooba Mufti said the former PM (Manmohan Singh)  also  had desire to  visit  Pakistan but couldn’t do it as he lacked the strength.

“He (ex-PM) had repeatedly said he wants to visit his ancestral home in Lahore . It was an excuse as basically he too wanted to have a solution to this issue but couldn’t do it as he lacked the strength,” she said.

She said the current situation in the valley is because of the fact the previous government didn’t carry forward the process initiated by  late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed  and ex-PM AB Vajpayee.

“Path breaking initiatives be it cease-fire, cross-LoC bus service or dialogue with separatists were taken  in just three-year of Mufti  government. But they were not carried forward by successive government. The lava was simmering and it surfaced in 2008 and 2010 and now it’s what we are seeing,”  said the CM.