Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Thursday said that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to make India 'Vishwa Guru' (world leader), he has to resolve the Kashmir issue. "India will become a ‘Vishwa guru' because it has that power, it has democracy, it has secularism which in today’s times you are smashing, but if you want to make the country ‘Vishwa guru’, the road to it goes through Jammu and Kashmir," she said.
Mehbooba was addressing her workers on the party's 23rd Foundation day in Srinagar. It was PDP's first large gathering in Kashmir in recent times which was permitted by the administration and provided security for peaceful culmination. After the abrogation of Article 370, the Jammu and Kashmir administration did not allow mainstream political parties, especially PDP to hold big gatherings. The curbs, however, have been eased now.
She insisted that the Modi government has to resolve the Kashmir issue and hold a dialogue with Pakistan for peaceful relations. "Till you (Modi) do not resolve the Kashmir issue, your feet will remain fettered by it. The road to becoming 'Vishwa guru' does not go through G-7 or G-20 or Quad, but through SAARC of which your neighbours Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries are a part," she said.
Also read: BJP using criminal elements to further its agenda: Mehbooba
"When you can't become a ‘guru’ of your neighbours, then how will you become a ‘Vishwaguru’? What is the biggest hurdle in taking SAARC forward? It is the relations between India and Pakistan," she said. She said that India shares its border with Pakistan in Punjab, Gujarat, and Rajasthan but only Jammu and Kashmir has become a firing zone.
"Firing or war takes place only on the borders of Jammu and Kashmir. There is a ten lakh army only in Jammu and Kashmir. The life of the people has become miserable only in J&K. So, until you do not mend your relations with Pakistan, and talk to them, how will J&K stop from being a battleground," she said. She urged PM Modi to declare Kashmir a zone of peace and let all the SAARC countries invest here.
"Let them open their banks here, their handicrafts universities, everyone should be allowed to move freely, open all routes," she said. Mehbooba said that trade between India and Pakistan goes on at the Wagah border, but the trade routes in Jammu and Kashmir have been closed. "If the trade goes on there with Punjab, then why did you suspend it on our side? Have we ever heard that there was firing on the Punjab border or that there was war between India and Pakistan on the Gujarat border or Rajasthan border? No, it only happens on the borders in Jammu and Kashmir," she said.
Also read: 'J-K turned into laboratory for political experiments,' says Mehbooba Mufti
Pointing out the presence of security forces, Mehbooba said that there is a "war inside J&K as well". "Ten lakh army personnel on one side and youth with guns on the other. You will have to resolve this issue and there is no other option," she said. She said that Pakistan and China have said all countries can become a part of the CPEC – a route which goes via the other Kashmir to Central Asia and South Asia.
"The other Kashmir is lucky that its strategic position is being used to become a gateway to Central and South Asia. Why do you not open routes through this J&K? Why not make it a gateway to Central and South Asia. Start from Jammu, reach the valley and then Ladakh -- -- be it Xinjiang, Yarkhand, Kargil-Skardu, Bandipora-Astoor, we are telling you what to do," she said.
