Monitor News Desk
Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday that leadership of India and Pakistan should rise above their political compulsions. She was reacting to shelling at the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday in which several civilians and soldiers from both countries were killed.
“Sad to see mounting casualties on both sides of LoC. If only Indian & Pakistani leadership could rise above their political compulsions & initiate dialogue. Restoring the ceasefire agreed upon & implemented by Vajpayee ji & Musharaf sahab is a good place to start,” the PDP chief said on Twitter.
On Friday four civilians including a 7-year-old boy and two army soldiers were killed as India and Pakistan armies traded heavy fire along Line of Control in Uri sector of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
A local news gathering agency Global News Service (GNS) reported that five civilians were also injured in the heavy mortar shelling and firing by Pakistan along the LoC in the Uri.
Friday’s altercation at the LoC comes at a time when India is already in a border dispute with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Though a disengagement plan is being discussed between the two countries, no crucial progress has been made till now.
Mehbooba had on Tuesday asked the Centre to hold dialogue with Pakistan in a bid to bring border skirmishes to an end and restore peace.
“If you can talk to China, why can’t you talk to Pakistan? We have been pleading with China to give us our land back but they are not budging from their stand. Why can’t we talk to Pakistan?” she said
Mufti also said that militancy is on the rise in Kashmir, adding that a dialogue was required with Pakistan and stakeholders in the Kashmir valley to restore peace.
