Please return home, Mehbooba Mufti appeals to Kashmiri Pandits

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday advocated for talks with Pakistan and restoration of friendly relations between Kashmiri Muslims and Pandit community.

Speaking at a function organised by a group of Kashmiri Pandits in New Delhi, Mufti said,"The Valley is incomplete without you. To begin with, please come as tourists and later if you feel so, you are most welcome to go back to your homes and stay there. Difficulties will be there but we together have to face these difficulties. Please do not wait for the last gun to fall silent.”

The chief minister said that collective efforts should be made for changing the slogan of “Azadi” in the Kashmir Valley.

“This can be achieved. Why can’t Jammu and Kashmir be a gateway to the central Asian countries?

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“If the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is a possibility, so can be this. If new roads are opened, the slogan of Azadi will automatically change,” she said at a gathering of around 200 Kashmiri Pandits, who had to leave their homes after the onset of the militancy in 1990.

Asserting that “reconciliation is the mantra," Mufti also urged Prime Minister Modi to initiate talks with Pakistan.

“Reconciliation is the mantra which we need to follow and therefore, I request Modi ji to engage with Pakistan,” she said.

“We need to take an assurance from the neighbouring country that they should not be allowing their soil to be used against India. After all, we all know that the key for peace is in Pakistan. They have been pushing terrorists into the state,” she added.