Mehbooba hopes PM will continue to find solution for J&K

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would continue his efforts to find a lasting solution to the pain and wounds of the people of the state.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion of inauguration of the 330 MW Kishenganga power project, she thanked the prime minister for announcing a unilateral halt on security operations in the state.

"It certainly is a big step which needed courage and you have amply displayed that. Not only the political parties, every person in the state is grateful to you for putting the balm on their wounds," the chief minister said.

She added that the people of the state were ready to walk 10 steps in response to this on the road to peace and getting them out of the quagmire of violence.

"The step taken by the Central government has raised hopes and faith of people of the state in the statesmanship of the prime minister. People here believe that it is he (Modi) who took this bold step and it can only be him who has the strength to move on and take the people of Jammu & Kashmir out of the present situation," Mehbooba said while enumerating several initiatives the prime minister took in normalising relations with Pakistan in the past.

The chief minister claimed the "Agenda of Alliance" (AoA) of the incumbent PDP-BJP government in the state has emerged as a consensus political document in last 70 years to redress the issues and problems facing the State in a democratic way.

"When you (the prime minister) and late Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) Sahib drew a roadmap for the state, it gradually became a consensus political document to redress the issues facing Jammu & Kashmir," she said.

Being a sensitive state, Mehbooba said, political narrative always overshadows the developmental narrative and as such needed to be looked accordingly.