Mehbooba Mufti supports Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s Kashmir statement of Indo-Pak dialogue at UN

Srinagar: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has again supported dialogue between India and Pakistan and she said that the time had come to resolve Kashmir’s long pending issue. She was reacting to the statement of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's Kashmir statement at the UN, where he racked up the Human rights situation in Kashmir and sought good relations and dialogue between the two neighbouring countries India-Pakistan.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said, "Jammu and Kashmir is a complex issue and you know the condition here. It has been converted into a jail. Our youth are put up in jails across India. It is important to solve the issue of Kashmir.”

“There are killings every day, there are encounters. If the Pak PM has said that they want to solve the Kashmir issue, he has also spoken about improving the relations between India and Pakistan which is a welcome step,” she added.

Stressing on the “sinking economy” of India, Mufti said, “the money that both the countries spend on defence can be used for development. We are behind Bangladesh's GDP.”

“The time has come for the Indian government to start the dialogue process with Pakistan,” Mehbooba told reporters at the graveyard of his father Mufti Muhammad Syed at Bujbhara Anantnag.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif raked up the Kashmir issue at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday. Addressing the session, Sharif said, “We look for peace with all our neighbours, including India. Sustainable peace and stability in South Asia however remain contingent upon a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute”. 

He again raised the issue of the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A by the Narendra Modi government on August 5, 2019, and sought dialogue with India for better relations between the two countries.