Make Kashmir SAARC’s epicentre: CM Mehbooba

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said her state, which serves as the gateway to Central Asia, should be developed as a model for SAARC cooperation as it can be connected with many countries. She said that Kashmir will “teach nationalism” to the entire country, while asking for more opportunities to its people. 

She said that hard policy was no solution and the only way forward was the process of dialogue and reconciliation. While praising Kashmiriyat, she said that the media should stop portraying Kashmiris in a bad light. She said that the national media did not highlight the fact that scores of young boys rushed to hospital to donate blood for the injured Amarnath yatris when they were attacked during this summer. She said a boatman, who drowned when he tried to save a tourist in Kashmir, was not highlighted by the national media.

She said that the recent decision to give amnesty to those youth, who have been booked for stone pelting, was one of the steps to make their lives easy and peaceful. Praising the Central government for appointing official representative for dialogue in J&K, she said that Dineshwar Sharma was working hard to find the process for reconciliation.