Mehbooba’s Mission Delhi: Stresses top leadership to adopt soft corner for Kashmiris

New Delhi, April 10 (Only Kashmir): The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday held a round of meetings with top leadership of India including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister for Defence Nirmala Sitharaman and urged them to support people of Kashmir in getting out of the cycle of uncertainty and deaths.
Three days after appealing the country’s leadership to listen to the voices of pain from the J&K State, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti Monday called on the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the Chief Minister stressed on finding ways and means to end the cycle of violence in the State by addressing the element of alienation among youth. She said the people of the State having suffered immensely during the turmoil of past three decades are looking upto the country’s political leadership to support them in getting out of this cycle of uncertainty and deaths.
Reiterating her demand for peaceful engagement with all stakeholders in this regard, the Chief Minister sought more frequent meetings at the highest levels between the two countries. She also favoured the idea that the two Army commands be in touch with each other to minimise the level of tension across the borders in the State which has affected lakhs of people living in these areas.



During the meeting with Minister for Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman, the Chief Minister underscored the need for adopting a humane approach while dealing with the situations and avoiding collateral damage during security operations. Every civilian killing or collateral damage, she added, puts the peaceful engagement efforts of the Government on the back burner and gives the vested elements an opportunity to exploit the situation to their advantage.
Both the Chief Minister and the Defence Minister agreed on sticking to a professional approach to deal with the situations to win back hearts and minds of people.
During the meeting, Mehbooba Mufti also raised the issue of enhancement of rent on the properties, including orchards and buildings, under the use of Army in the State. She also sought expediting the process of handing over of balance portion of Tattoo Ground to local administration for developing tourist infrastructure.
Besides, Mehbooba Mufti also sought handing over of 456 kanals of land from Army at Anantnag High Grounds and vacation of Kharbathang Plateau at Kargil in lieu of alternate pieces of land. She also sought clearance of bottlenecks coming in the way of expansion of Jammu Airport and Jammu University.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba Mufti today visited the injured SHO, Nigeen, Manzoor Ahmad who is being treated at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.
The SHO Nigeen was injured in an incident of stone pelting few days ago and he was subsequently shifted to Delhi for specialised treatment. (OK)