Srinagar

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday suggested that the Centre make Jammu and Kashmir a gateway between South and Central Asia, and use its geographical location to strengthen ties with Pakistan and China.

"The situation around the world is changing. You have seen how a small country like Iran used its strategic position -- the Strait of Hormuz -- to bring a powerful nation like the US to its knees. Jammu and Kashmir also has a strategic geographical position," Mehbooba told reporters here.

Asserting that Jammu and Kashmir has been "engulfed" by a conflict between India and Pakistan, which led to sufferings, she said the Union Territory should be made a bridge of peace between the two countries instead.

"PDP's stance has always been one of reconciliation. Jammu and Kashmir has become a battleground. Instead, it should become a bridge of peace between India and Pakistan. Roads should be open, there should be movement between the two countries," the former chief minister said, welcoming the recent RSS statements favouring dialogue.

Citing former prime minister A B Vajpayee's remark that "friends can be changed, but not neighbours", she said that any prime minister's legacy was not about how powerful he was or how many years he had ruled, but about how many conflicts he had resolved.

"Today, I believe, both countries have a golden opportunity. Shahbaz Sharif has the Army on the same page with him. Here in our country, Modiji is very powerful. They have a golden opportunity," she said.

Calling for the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the PDP chief said India should take the leadership of SAARC into its own hands.

"(And) it should make Jammu and Kashmir an experiment of SAARC. All SAARC countries should invest here," she said.

Referring to the opening of Lipulekh Road -- the 80-kilometre Himalayan corridor connecting Uttarakhand to Lipulekh Pass at the India-Tibet border -- she asked, "Why can't Khotan, Yarkand or Kashgar open through Ladakh?"

"If with Jammu and Kashmir's strategic position, we can become the gateway to Central Asia and South Asia, then the entire situation here will change. It will also benefit the country as a whole. For that, it is necessary to have good relations with Pakistan and China," she said.

Pointing to the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A by the Centre in 2019, Mehbooba said "nothing was achieved" even though the BJP used the "most dangerous weapon" against Jammu and Kashmir.

"Even now, there is alienation. You have made it an open-air prison. There is no freedom to speak here, no freedom to protest peacefully. You are just managing it day-to-day," she said.

Mehbooba said India used to have confrontation only with Pakistan, but after 2019, China has also "occupied a lot of land" in Ladakh.

"So, why not negotiate and set an example of greatness? Modi should try to improve our relations with Pakistan and China. And in that, Jammu and Kashmir can play a very important role, because roads pass through here.

"If you have a good formula that doesn't undermine the sovereignty of our country or Pakistan, why aren't we doing that? Because it is not the old world anymore, it has changed. We should now use our strategic position, just like Pakistan did," she said.

The former chief minister said that right now, Pakistan is on the central stage in the world because they have a strategic position.

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"It is being said that they (Pakistan) stopped the Third World War. We also have such a good strategic position in Jammu and Kashmir, which can connect South Asia and Central Asia. Why don't we use that?" she asked.