War no option, Pak should take initiative for peace: Mehbooba

UDHAMPUR: War is not an option to resolve differences and Pakistan should take the initiative to make peace with India as the onus lies on it, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said here today. While pitching for better ties between India and Pakistan, she called for immediate peace on the borders. "I feel that war is not solution to anything and ultimately we have to reconcile with each other and become friends and for which I feel that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi went there but unfortunately Pathankot followed that, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has to bear the brunt of the hostilities between the two sides," she said. "The situation should improve at an earliest and both the nations should sit together in a civilized manner and for that I feel that Pakistan has to take the initiative," Mehbooba told reporters on the sidelines of a police function here. Referring to the cross-border shelling and firing, she said, "We are not seeing this for the first time as we have witnessed several wars between our country and Pakistan. Right from 1947, we have seen the Kargil war in 1999 and wars, ceasefire violations are not going to last for long. Ultimately we have to learn to live with each other." She said the ongoing cross-border firing has to stop. During the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pakistan had assured and had worked towards not allowing Pakistan's soil to be used against India, Mehbooba recalled, adding border ceasefire was also implemented. "The situation has changed and today the people living on borders are being uprooted and seriously injured and our forces personnel are being killed," the Chief Minister said.