 Summary of this article
- Mehbooba Mufti welcomed RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s remarks favouring continued people-to-people contact and keeping a dialogue window open with Pakistan.
- Mufti said Hosabale’s statement supports her party’s consistent stand that talks with Pakistan are necessary for lasting peace in the region.
- She emphasised that sustained engagement and confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan are the only path to resolve issues and ensure prosperity in Jammu & Kashmir.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has backed RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale’s call for maintaining people-to-people contact with Pakistan and keeping channels of dialogue open.
Reacting to Hosabale’s recent statement, Mufti said the remarks vindicate the PDP’s long-standing position, originally championed by her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, that dialogue with Pakistan is essential for peace and normalcy in Jammu & Kashmir.
The former Chief Minister asserted that while national security remains paramount, shutting all doors to engagement is not in India’s interest. She welcomed the RSS leader’s emphasis on people-to-people ties, especially at a time when formal government-level talks are limited.
Political circles view this rare alignment between the PDP and a senior RSS leader as significant. Mufti urged practical steps such as reopening cross-LoC trade routes and increasing people-to-people exchanges to build trust between the two neighbours. |
