Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday backed dialogue between India and Pakistan, saying there should be no objection to efforts aimed at normalising relations between the two neighbouring countries.
“When RSS leaders urge the government to initiate talks with Pakistan, there is no issue. But as soon as leaders from J&K make the same demand, there is an outrage. There should be no objection to initiating talks between the two countries,” Omar told reporters.
He said tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year, followed by a brief military confrontation.
His remarks came after 117 prominent personalities from India and Pakistan jointly wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging them to resume dialogue and reopen diplomatic channels.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir’s strategic and geographical position had left it caught in the political tensions between India and Pakistan, making the situation “grim day by day”.
She said the issue affected not only the people of Jammu and Kashmir but the entire country.
“PDP’s agenda has always been reconciliation. J&K should become a bridge of peace between the two countries. Even senior RSS leaders have endorsed cultural exchanges. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said we can change our friends but not our neighbours,” Mufti said.
She added that the leadership of both countries had a golden opportunity to restart dialogue. “J&K can become the gateway to Central and South Asia. We should have good relations with Pakistan and even China,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah are among the signatories to the joint letter addressed to the two Prime Ministers.
The appeal, however, drew criticism from the BJP’s J&K unit. Several party leaders said there could be no dialogue with Pakistan until it stopped sponsoring terrorism.
Senior BJP leader and former J&K party president Ravinder Raina said, “If Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti wish to write a letter, they should address the killings of innocent people and the human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”
He alleged that the supply of rations, water, electricity and medicines had remained disrupted in parts of PoJK for the past two months.
“Why do Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti not write about these atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army, the ISI and the Pakistani government in PoJK? Dialogue between India and Pakistan is a matter for the Government of India and the Ministry of External Affairs to decide,” Raina said.
