The Hindu : National : Stop sending militants here, Mehbooba tells Pakistan

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Friday, Aug 12, 2005

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Stop sending militants here, Mehbooba tells Pakistan

"Pakistan claims to be a well-wisher of Kashmiris"

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syed with his daughter Mehbooba Mufti after she was elected State president of the People's Democratic Party in Srinagar on Thursday. - PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

SRINAGAR: The ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday asked Pakistan to stop sending militants to Jammu and Kashmir if it ``claims to be a well-wisher of Kashmiris."

``Pakistan claims to be a well-wisher of Kashmiris and wants them to see free... It should stop sending militants to Kashmir and allow people of the State to live in peace without the fear of gun,'' Mehbooba Mufti told reporters after she was elected PDP president for the second term.

``We appeal to Musharraf to advise Pakistani boys not to come here,'' she said. Ms. Mufti said Islamabad had lost no time in reining in militants, closing `madrasas' and arresting `maulvis' after the London blasts.

``We (Kashmiris) are your brothers and sisters. Children are orphaned and women widowed daily in Kashmir. You should feel the pain and agony and stop the violence here,'' she said.

The people of Kashmir had provided food and shelter to Pakistani militants for 15 years ... but now, they want to live in peace, she said.

She said that her party would take up with the Centre the return of over 3,000 Kashmiri boys, now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, who wanted to return to their homeland. — PTI

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