Mehbooba Meets Modi, Urges Him To De-Escalate Tension With Pakistan

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday to apprise him of the overall situation in the state and stressed the need to de-escalate the situation along the border. “During the meeting, the chief minister apprised the prime minister about the overall situation in the state. She informed the prime minister that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were suffering immensely due to the precarious situation for decades,” officials said.

They said Mehbooba also brought to Modi’s notice the recent escalation of violence along the international border, which has forced thousands of people to leave their homes, hearths and daily routine. She said the dire need of the time was to de-escalate this situation of violence and uncertainty and adopt the path of reconciliation, as envisioned in the Agenda of Alliance of the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.

“A threadbare discussion on the Agenda of Alliance also took place during the meeting and the need was felt to ensure a time-bound progress on all the items, including reconciliation between groups, regions and countries and return back of power projects,” they added. A better coordination between the coalition partners was also stressed during the meeting, so that better results were delivered to the people of the state, the officials said.

Mehbooba also informed the prime minister about the execution of the Rs 1 lakh crore development package in the state, while underlining the need for public outreach for effectively percolating down the benefits of such a package. She said the benefits of any development initiative in the state got unfortunately overshadowed due to the absence of any fruitful public outreach.