Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 12: Batting strongly for the talks to resolve the issue confronting Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said that there is no way out other than the talks as India and Pakistan have fought wars but the basic problem of Jammu and Kashmir has not been resolved.
Addressing the Legislative Assembly before the House adjourned sine die after completion of budget session, Mehbooba hit out at the TV channels for holding debates on Jammu and Kashmir to increase their TRPs but, in the process, doing dis-service to the nation and the State by creating a environment of hatred among the people.
“If Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti say hold talks with Pakistan, they are being dubbed as anti-nationals. There is no alternative (to resolve the issue) except by holding talks (between India and Pakistan)”, Mehbooba said.
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She recalled that India has fought three wars with Pakistan and won all but the problem has not been resolved.
“We have fought three wars in 1965, 1971 and Kargil and have won all of them but our basic problem has not been resolved”, she said.
Mehbooba said that war is no option for resolution of the issue, which can be resolved only by holding talks with Pakistan at any given point of time.
“We are losing our people on the borders and hinterland. Whether he is a civilian or security force personnel, our people are getting killed. Only option rests with holding talks”, she said.
“I am happy that this House from Opposition to ruling parties have strongly batted for holding talks as an alternative to resolve the problem of Jammu and Kashmir”, she said.
She added that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are caught in the web of violence and turmoil as “we see encounters and attacks on the daily basis and loose our people’’.
She pointed out that even National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah has called for talks with Pakistan.
The Chief Minister hit out at the TV channels for holding debates on Jammu and Kashmir to increase their TRPs but are doing dis-service to the nation and the State by creating a environment of hatred among the people.
Taking a dig on selected TV channels and some section of people for dubbing those including her as anti-nationals if they bat for holding talks with Pakistan, Mehbooba said “if we cannot raise demand for holding talks who else can? Will a leader from Punjab raise that? It is we who have to raise it. Such an atmosphere has been created in the country in which raising the demand for talks amounts to being anti-national”.
Criticizing a section of TV channels for using Jammu and Kashmir to increase their TRP, she said that they don’t have any feeling about the sensitivity of Jammu and Kashmir.
”They hold worst debates with polarized mindset. They bring people from Kashmir who are not even known in their own colonies. They always speak anti-India. They are picked up because they use unparliamentary and bad language particularly against India and same type of people are picked from the other side to reply to them”, Mehbooba regretted.
The Chief Minister said that because of these debates, the people of Kashmir and India are distancing more from each other rather than coming closer.
“Please stop these debates. It is not in the interest of the country and the State. The more you create this kind of environment on the debates, you can only distance people of J&K from the country”, she said.
Invoking former Chief Minister and her father late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba said that he always batted strongly for strengthening the institution of democracy by holding talks as democracy is battle of ideas.
She said that Mufti Sahib batted strongly for talks instead of use of force to resolve any issue.
Meanwhile, the Assembly’s budget session ended on a bitter note as Opposition Congress, National Conference and CPI(M) members, barring one MLA, walked out from the House, accusing Speaker Kavinder Gupta of being biased.
Opposition members except National Conference (NC) MLA Mohammad Akbar Lone walked out of the House amid Gupta’s concluding remarks, alleging that the Speaker was acting like a spokesman of the Government, the BJP and the RSS.
Lone, whose ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan on Saturday led to an uproar in the House, remained seated as his colleagues along with CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami and Congress members walked out.
Interrupting the Speaker during his speech, Tarigami said: “I am requesting that you are not a Presiding Officer of a particular party. The budget was passed by the House and there is no need to repeat it.”
“The Speaker is the custodian of the House and should behave like a non-party person,” he said.
Congress Legislature party leader Nawang Rigzin Jora also reacted sharply and asked the Speaker “not to behave like the spokesman of the Government.”
Later talking to reporters outside the House, NC general secretary and MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar said that the Speaker had vindicated his party’s apprehension that he was “biased and acting like a member of BJP and RSS”, which he should not.
“Being a Speaker he should be very impartial and it should look from his actions. His speech in the House was like he was reading the agenda of the BJP and RSS. Naturally, we have no course but to walk out to lodge our strong protest against the Speaker,” he said.
However, the NC leader supported the speech of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti that dialogue with Pakistan is the only way forward.
Sagar said that she was right in saying that those who talk about dialogue are dubbed as “anti-national” which is wrong.
“She endorsed the statement of (NC president) Farooq Abdullah and (NC working president) Omar Abdullah that dialogue is the way forward and nothing will be achieved by killings, operations and crackdowns.
“It is the stand and agenda of the party that dialogue holds the key for honourable solution of Kashmir issue,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, the Speaker said he felt honoured to be given the post after getting elected for the first time.
“I made a sincere effort to uphold to fulfill my responsibility which you all know,” Gupta said.
He read out a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought support for various reforms and Central initiatives to ensure ‘Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas’
Gupta also hailed Mehbooba Mufti as the first woman Chief Minister of the State and talked about the initiatives her Government has taken to counter the proxy war and carry forward the developmental projects.
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