Keeping alive the suspense on government formation with BJP, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti Sunday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking visiting Pakistan to bring a thaw in the ties with the neighbouirng country Pakistan.“When my father (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) was in AIIMS hospital he told me that he wished the relations between the two countries get smooth because peace in Kashmir is only possible when India and Pakistan come together,” Mehbooba said while addressing party workers in Anantnag town at Dak Bunglow during a membership drive.“Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was could not visit Pakistan in his 10 years being in the seat of PM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Pakistan and met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif. It was a good gesture from him which helped to bring a thaw in the hostile relations between the two neighbouirng countries,” she said.Though he wished to go there but she could not visit even his birth place,” the PDP President said.
Lauding the party workers, Mehbooba said that she as the PDP president would always take decisions that will keep in view the dignity and the integrity of the people of the state rather than the power.Though Mehbooba did not say a direct word about government formation, she does not want power but the welfare of the people and the youth of the state.“I don’t want a chair from which I cannot address the problems of the youth and could not work for the welfare of the people of Kashmir and the whole state.Praising India, the PDP president said that India is a tolerant country where people have right of freedom of speech.“India is a tolerant country where everyone has a right of freedom of speech unlike Pakistan where people could not say a word when former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutoo was hanged,” she said.
She asserted to her workers that the party leaders and its workers have to take forward the vision of peace and development of the state which has been laid down by party patron Mufti Sayeed.He speech in Anantnag town was similar to the one in Srinagar last week where she praised her father’s political decisions, recounted his last days of life and talked about her own resolve to make his dreams a reality.This was the second public address of Mehbooba after her father’s demise on January 7 in AIIMS New Delhi. Her first address was to her workers in Srinagar outside the party headquarters here where she kick-started the membership drive on February 21. (KNS)