Imran Khan is Pak army’s ‘proxy’, best time for talks: Mehbooba

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said it was the”best time” for India to hold talks with Pakistan as the neighbouring country’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan is being touted as a “proxy”their army. If initiated now, she said, the talks between the two neighbours at this time could prove “beneficial”.      

“If Imran is a proxy of the Pak army then this is the best time to talk. When Imran Khan says he is ready to talk, to open corridors, then I think army is also on the same page…,” Mufti said at the ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’ event here. She said the “best bargain” for India, vis-a-vis the Kashmir issue, was during the time when Pervez Musharraf was the President of Pakistan as during that time ceasefire was initiated at the border and the Muzaffarabad route was opened up.        

“The talks could be beneficial now….why should we not talk?” she asked. The Peoples Democratic Party leader also said her party will “join hands”with any political party that will support the “resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.” “If we can join hands with the BJP, we can do so with anyone for resolution of the J-K issue,” she said. Mufti said her Peoples Democratic Party going with the BJP, during the last political regime in the state, was “suicidal” and that she was”disappointed” that this experiment to begin the political process in the state did not work.