Jitendra Singh Slams Mehbooba Mufti Over Call For India-Pakistan Dialogue

Mehbooba Mufti has repeatedly said that peace would be elusive as long as the Kashmir issue remains unresolved.

New Delhi: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday, while addressing the media, asserted that any talks between India and Pakistan can be held only “when guns fall silent and bullets stop flying”.

Talking to the reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi, he came down heavily on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who on Saturday reiterated her call to the BJP-led Central government for holding dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.

Jitendra Singh sought to know if the BJP should talk to the people of its own country or to the people of a foreign land.

Mehbooba Mufti has repeatedly said that peace would be elusive as long as the Kashmir issue remains unresolved.

“If the Kashmir issue is not resolved, there will be no peace in the region and therefore it is necessary to hold talks with people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan,” she had said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, reacting to her remark, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the PDP chief could pass such comments as the BJP had given people like her strength by forming the government with her party in the erstwhile state.

Taking a dig at Mufti, Raut also said she was a friend of the BJP at some point in time and they formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Raut added that the PDP has been “pro-Pakistan and sympathised with terrorists” and even as Mehbooba Mufti had supported the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the BJP had formed an alliance with her to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

(With agency inputs)