It is the Indian government, not Pakistan, which should take the responsibility if a youth in Jammu and Kashmir picks up a stone or gun, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said.
"The leaders of both the nations, in particular I want to say it to the Modi government... That if a 14-year-old child of Jammu and Kashmir picks up a stone... A 22-year-old youth who has done BA and MA and has taken up weapon is your responsibility not that of Pakistan," she said while addressing a party function here.
Mufti said that it was the responsibility of the Indian government to address the problems being faced by the people of the state.
"Our sorrows, our pains, our poverty... You have to take us out of this. Our PM and our political parties have to resolve our issues. They have to think why a BA pass youth did take up gun in 2010 and 2014.
"He was not born with the gun. If a 14-year-old boy takes up stone will we resolve it by giving him a bullet. Will you fire a bullet on him," she asked.
Mufti said that people living in border areas needed good roads, good schools and good health-care but even after 70 years of Independence these people are looking for bunkers to save their lives.
She said that war was not an option as any war with Pakistan would prove to be catastrophic for the sub continent as both the nations will use nuclear weapons in the war.
"I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has got a historical mandate and Nawaz Sharif who has been facing various hardships in his country for everlasting friendship," she said.
Mufti also raised the One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) demand of ex-servicemen.
"While Pakistan is a poor country their army is in prosperity. In our country our ex-soldiers have to go for strike demanding OROP and we say we do not have money. Both the countries have money to buy weapons to fight each other but they do not have money for the welfare of their own people," she said.
Mufti said that when a few mask-wearing youth take out black or green flags, media makes a hue and cry about it but when the same Kashmiri people save the lives of the Amarnath yatries nobody speaks even a word about that.
Accusing the media of projecting a wrong image of the people of Kashmir, the PDP leader said that the media should stop portraying the people of the state as "villains" and work towards highlighting other issues plaguing the state.
