Treat Kashmir problem as human one: PDP to Centre

The opposition PDP today appealed to the Centre to initiate an unconditional dialogue within the ambit of humanity to resolve the lingering Kashmir problem.

"The approach adopted by the Centre is unfortunate. It admits Kashmir is a 63-year-old issue but is laying conditions for dialogue," PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said.

"Why not take the Kashmir problem as a human one and try to resolve it," she told reporters here.

Mehbooba said she was making the appeal to the Centre, especially the prime minister, as the state government had become "defunct, irrelevant and visionless".

She said the problem could not be resolved with the treatment being meted out to the people.

"You have brought weapons from Israel but the problem remained. You have used all methods but the problem remained."

The PDP head said dialogue was the only way to resolve the issue and the prime minister should intervene and initiate unconditional talks with the people.

Asked whether she would go to New Delhi and meet the prime minister in this regard, she said "we will not go with a begging bowl. The Centre should initiate talks with the people within the ambit of humanity if they want to save Kashmir".

"Unless Kashmir problem is treated as a human problem, it will not be resolved," she said.