'We Don't Need Pakistan': Pahalgam Victim's Wife Rejects Mehbooba Mufti's Call For India-Pakistan Talks

New Delhi: Strong reactions poured in after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti renewed her call for India to resume dialogue with Pakistan, drawing parallels between the India-Pakistan relationship and the recent US-Iran diplomatic engagement.

Mufti argued that Jammu and Kashmir should become a "bridge of friendship" rather than a conflict zone and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to open channels of dialogue with both Pakistan and China. She also suggested that Jammu and Kashmir could emerge as a gateway to Central and South Asia through greater regional cooperation and economic integration.

Her remarks triggered sharp criticism from Aishanya Dwivedi, wife of Pahalgam terror attack victim Shubham Dwivedi, who rejected any proposal for renewed engagement with Pakistan.

Speaking during a televised debate, Aishanya Dwivedi, said repeated terror attacks, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Pulwama and the Pahalgam attack, showed that India had received "terrorism in return" despite past diplomatic engagement.

"We don't need Pakistan; Pakistan needs us," she said, asserting that India already enjoys strong global partnerships and has nothing to gain from restoring trade or diplomatic ties with a country she described as synonymous with terrorism.

She further argued that reopening avenues of engagement would only make it easier for terrorists to infiltrate India and maintained that the voices of terror victims and security personnel should take precedence over calls for dialogue.

Backing the Centre's hardline approach, she said the government's zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism should continue and urged that Pakistan be internationally isolated over its alleged support for terror groups.

Defence expert Major Samar Pal Toor also criticised Mufti's remarks, alleging that calls for dialogue ignored Pakistan's continued support for terrorism.

Referring to the open letter advocating renewed India-Pakistan engagement, Toor claimed that giving importance to such appeals would weaken India's consistent position that talks and terrorism cannot go together.

He also questioned the inclusion of former intelligence official A.S. Dulat among the signatories and alleged that sections of the political establishment had turned terrorism into a "business model" to maintain their relevance.

Toor further rejected any suggestion that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was separate from India and reiterated that India had "nothing to gain" from reopening talks with Pakistan while cross-border terrorism continued.

The exchange comes amid a fresh political debate over calls by several public figures for restoring India-Pakistan dialogue despite New Delhi's stated position that terrorism and talks cannot proceed simultaneously.

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