J&K sided with India but August 5 move further alienated people: Mehbooba

Bijbehara: Former chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti Thursday said that voices of people can’t be suppressed through power, stating that dialogue is the only way to resolve Kashmir issue.

Mehbooba Mufti after paying tribute to his father, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed at DaraShiku Bagh Bijbehara on his fifth death anniversary, said that his father was a visionary leader who always put emphasis on peace and dialogue.

“He took several confidence-building steps to bring J&K out of this bloodshed and he always wanted that J&K should act as bridge between India and Pakistan,” She said, adding that he believed that every issue can be resolved through dialogue and dialogue is the only way to bring peace here.

She said that if Government of India wants peace here then they have to adapt the vision of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

“Mufti sahab has always put emphasis on India to hold dialogue with all stake holders of J&K and have friendly relations with all neighboring countries including Pakistan.”

She said that J&K sided with India despite being a Muslim dominant state, however, the illegal decision of scrapping of special status of J&K on August 05 last year further alienated the people here.

“Dialogue is the only way to resolve Kashmir issue,” she said, adding that even USA is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan now and holding dialogue with Taliban to resolve issues.

She further said that through power “you can never win hearts and minds of people and you can cage people but you can’t cage their thoughts.” (KNO)