Summary of this article
Mehbooba Mufti welcomed RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s remarks favouring continued people-to-people contact and keeping a dialogue window open with Pakistan.
Mufti said Hosabale’s statement supports her party’s consistent stand that talks with Pakistan are necessary for lasting peace in the region.
She emphasised that sustained engagement and confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan are the only path to resolve issues and ensure prosperity in Jammu & Kashmir.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has backed RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale’s call for maintaining people-to-people contact with Pakistan and keeping channels of dialogue open.
Reacting to Hosabale’s recent statement, Mufti said the remarks vindicate the PDP’s long-standing position, originally championed by her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, that dialogue with Pakistan is essential for peace and normalcy in Jammu & Kashmir.
The former Chief Minister asserted that while national security remains paramount, shutting all doors to engagement is not in India’s interest. She welcomed the RSS leader’s emphasis on people-to-people ties, especially at a time when formal government-level talks are limited.
Political circles view this rare alignment between the PDP and a senior RSS leader as significant. Mufti urged practical steps such as reopening cross-LoC trade routes and increasing people-to-people exchanges to build trust between the two neighbours.
