Make LoC irrelevant, encourage trade with Pakistan: Mehbooba

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti today suggested that the border separating JK and PoK should be made "irrelevant" by encouraging trade and said the recent Lal Chowk incident should not influence the Centre's decision to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir.
    
Remarking that Kashmir did not have any role to play in the partition of India-Pakistan, Mufti said "The borders should be made irrelevant by encouraging trade. Can't there be any joint mechanism between the two Kashmirs. Why can't we have joint council comprising representatives from both the sides?," she said.
   
Noting that the peace process should be delinked from terror incidents, she advocated for resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.
    
"We need to delink dialogue from any terror attacks because we know that the aim of any terror attack is to sabotage the dialogue process. Lal Chowk attack should not influence the intention of the Government of India to withdraw forces from Jammu and Kashmir," Mufti said.

Mufti was addressing a conference on India and Pakistan: A Road Map towards Peace, here.
    
Pointing out that the wars between India and Pakistan have only resulted in accumulation of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, she said that troops should be withdrawn from the state and the Lal Chowk encounter incident should provide no excuse for it.

Pressing for resumption of the dialogue process that should include issue of Kashmir, Mufti said: there is a feeling of independence among the people of the state and "we need to acknowledge that and we need to find some substitute".

The situation in the state has improved over a period of time and people are resorting to peaceful means to raise their grievances, she said and claimed that Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone was killed because "he wanted to have dialogue".
    
The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said the two countries should engage themselves in a dialogue "which is very much result-oriented", adding, a "stable Pakistan is in our interest".
    
However, she alleged that India and Pakistan have played a role in dividing Kashmir, and said there should be a "policy shift" -- reaching out to people, practice of peaceful, democratic and more humanitarian ways -- in both the countries to build a new south Asia.

She said the leadership of the two countries should take up the charge of taking the peace process forward. The Congress party in Delhi has huge mandate and given the new leadership, "Young leaders in Congress can take take chances and he (Rahul Gandhi) has time on his side".

Mufti said that Kashmir will be the "first and the worst victim" if something happens to Pakistan.