Mehbooba says shoots of peace emerging in Kashmir,right time for talks to resolve problem

SRINAGAR: Shoots of peace are “sprouting” in the terrorism-hit state of Jammu and Kashmir and the government is now working towards ensuring that the people in the state can be uplifted with dignity, state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said.

In an interview to PTI last night, the 58-year-old chief minister welcomed recent attempts by the Centre and the ruling party to reach out to Kashmiris, starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech where he asked the countrymen to embrace Kashmiris."These are welcome signs" in Kashmir Valley where people are eagerly waiting for peace to return, the chief minister said.

"The shoots of peace have started sprouting. They have to be watered and fertilized, and I am sure that the fruits of peace will follow," she said in the interview at her home, with a large portrait of her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the background. Mehbooba succeeded him as the chief minister a few months after his death in January 2016.

Mehbooba, who is also the tourism minister, gets a report on tourist arrivals every evening, and the figures are grim – arrivals have now fallen to 4,000-5,000 daily from a peak of 10,000-12,000. Most hotels and houseboats are empty, taxi companies have virtually no business and shops are shut.

"You talk about the 200 militants but don’t talk about the thousands of Kashmiris in the Indian Army,” she said. But she did not deny that there is a sense of alienation among Kashmiri youth, and even children as young as eight, because of severe security crackdowns that follow stone pelting incidents.Mehbooba, who is the first woman chief minister of the restive border state, said her government is in favour of holding talks with everyone as has been enshrined in the Agenda of Alliance between the PDP and the BJP.

She indicated that she is in favour of the peace talks strategy employed by the Vajpayee government in the early 2000s when Kashmiri separatist leaders were allowed to talk to Pakistan as part of peace building efforts, while New Delhi and Islamabad were also simultaneously engaged."There is a need to take the bull by its horns and finding a way out for bringing in a 'permanent' peace in the state," she said, adding that she is in regular contact with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, whom she described as "very supportive".