'No Option But to Talk': Mehbooba Discusses Valley Violence With Modi

New Delhi: Amid increasing cases of violence in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to press for dialogue to defuse the situation.

Mufti has been facing flak over how the government has not been able to check the fresh spurt in violence in Kashmir.

She briefed Modi on the prevailing situation in the state and told him that the Centre should seriously think about the welfare of the state.

"There is no option but to talk," Mufti said.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, she said, “We discussed about the unrest in the valley that began after the bypolls were announced. Talks are necessary to end the current situation.”

“We cannot have talks in an environment where bullets are being fired,” she added.

The PDP and the BJP, which are running the coalition government in the troubled state, are not on the same page on the issue of dealing with the growing trend of stone-pelting and this has led to friction between them.

"BJP and PDP are together because of Vajpayee's vision, PM modi highlighted this...There were discussion with separatists during Atal ji's time. We should continue from that point," Mufti said.

BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga recently advocated strong action, saying "traitors and stone-pelters should be treated with bullets".

This comment drew the ire of the PDP, which said there was a “conspiracy" to keep trouble brewing in the Valley.

"Such detestable remarks not only reflect the nauseous mentality of some extremist politicians in the state, but also expose the larger design of certain elements to provoke fresh trouble in Kashmir so that Kashmiris are pushed into perpetual educational and economic disempowerment," senior PDP leader Peerzada Mansoor had said in a statement later.

Against the backdrop of the strains, BJP's pointsman for Jammu and Kashmir Ram Madhav on Friday last held a meeting with senior PDP leader Haseeb Drabu in Jammu. Madhav then met Ganga, who later expressed regret for his controversial comment.