Terrorists killing Indians civilians & Jawans, Mehbooba Mufti wants dialogue with Pakistan

On a day the country lost five of its Army personnel in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch area, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti advocated India's dialogue with Pakistan. Speaking to the media, Mehbooba Mufti said that in spite of all the fighting on the border, India was unable to ensure the safety and security of the people, and therefore, the country should resort to 'the other way'- discussions and deliberations with Pakistan. 

Shooting off former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's shoulders, Mehbooba Mufti said, "Vajpayee Ji, who was a Prime Minister from the BJP, acted as a true statesmen thought that in order to rescue the residents of Jammu and Kashmir from this situation resorted to the way of dialogue" The PDP chief added, "Dialogues took place in India as well as in Kashmir and things began to improve in the valley, and the number of killings also came down. "

Mehbooba Mufti reiterated her belief that even now, the 'best way' to bring out Jammu and Kashmir from this situation is for India to hold talks with Pakistan. "That's the only way," she said. 

Indian army personnel martyred in J&K's Poonch 

On Monday, the security forces launched a search and cordon operation in the forest area of the Poonch district. The operation was initiated after forces received inputs of terrorist infiltration in the Dera ki Gali (DKG) area of the district. The operation led to a major encounter that claimed the lives of a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and four other Indian Army soldiers. 

Earlier, two separate encounters broke in the valley. One was in Anantnag where an unidentified terrorist was killed while another was in Bandipora where a terrorist affiliated with The Resistance Front (an offshoot of Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba) was killed. The forces have been carrying on operations in Jammu & Kashmir after targetted killings were reported in the valley.

On October 6, Wednesday- three civilians  Makhan Lal Bindroo - a prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman, a non-Kashmiri street vendor Virender Paswan and a Kashmiri Mohd Shafi Lone were killed. Thereafter, on October 5, Thursday, two school teachers-Satinder Kaur and Deepak Chand were killed in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Reportedly, the Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attacks. In a letter, the TRF has claimed that it does not target innocents or civilians, but the ones who 'collaborate' with the Government of India.