Mehbooba Mufti favours revival of sporting ties between India, Pakistan

Jammu: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday favoured revival of sporting ties between India and Pakistan to normalise the tense situation in the aftermath of the recent events including the Pahalgam terror attack and the Operation Sindoor.

She said the war clouds hanging over the region are not in favour of the country which is grappling with unemployment and poverty.

"There should be sporting events (between India and Pakistan) if you want to live in peace and not spend money on the war. If we want to overcome unemployment and poverty, then you have to normalise the situation and sports is the best bet in achieving this goal," the former chief minister told reporters here.

Terrorists struck the Pahalgam hill resort on April 22, killing 25 tourists and a local. In retaliation, the Indian Armed Forces struck terror infrastructure across the border on May 7 under Operation Sindoor, leading to a four-day military clash between the two countries.

She said the Indo-Pakistan war is over but the atmosphere is still prevalent in the country. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for avoiding a nuclear war. Unfortunately, the BJP has created such an atmosphere in the country that all parties are asking why the government went for a ceasefire with Pakistan, she said.

"That is, the war should have continued. Look at the mentality. What is happening in our country? Why did you do this? And this is the policy of the BJP, of that aggression. It has brought aggression among the people," she said.

"Now all the parties in the opposition are compelled because if they do not say something like this they will be dubbed anti-national. If anyone doesn't say bomb Pakistan, he will be treated as anti-national, if no one supports cruel policies in Jammu and Kashmir, they are anti-national," Mufti said.

Claiming that the whole atmosphere in the country is ruined, she said the small country like Pakistan is today compared to India and it is because the "BJP has left the policy of former prime minister A B Vajpyee and adopted the policy of (Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathu Ram) Godse," Mufti said.

She said India could have played a leadership role in south Asia but the situation is that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is being hijacked by China because "we do not talk to the neighbours."

"We are sending our delegates all over the world. We wanted the Pahalgam incident to be internationalised but no one talked about that and instead, Kashmir and the ceasefire were talked about along with Pakistan. What did Pakistan do in the war?" the PDP leader said.

She said a new norm was set that whenever there is a terror attack, it will trigger a war.

Mufti said any country can exploit the situation by giving "supari" (contract) to non-state actors so that there is a fight between India and Pakistan and they can sell their weapons. America wants us to buy F35 fighter jets, Russia and Germany something else while China is arming Pakistan free of cost, she added.

"How can we overcome poverty and unemployment when we will remain engaged with Pakistan in war?" she said.

The PDP chief said adding reconciliation and dialogue in any part of the world is the way forward but before dialogue with Pakistan, the government should hold talks with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

On the US imposing 25 per cent tariff on India, she alleged that the BJP-led government has failed in both domestic and foreign policy.

"Diplomatically, we have failed... Time and again, the US president talks about India. He is threatening. Why is he threatening? Because our country completely surrendered in front of America and now its president is trampling us," Mufti said.

On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation against the Election Commission (EC) of vote theft in favour of the BJP, the PDP leader said he is saying it with proof as to how over one crore voters were added in Maharashtra between the parliamentary and assembly elections.

"The beauty of India is its democracy and if you start compromising elections, then what is left behind," she said, alleging that the BJP's J&K policy has failed and the people of the country are fed up with its J&K "rhetoric and war cries".

She refused to comment on the remarks of Sadhvi Pragya against the Congress and accused her of worshipping Godse.