Expressing her deep anguish and grief over the killing death of five civilians in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, cheif minister Mehbooba Mufti has appealed the national leadership to show some sympathy and empathy towards as required by the present day situation in Kashmir.

She asked the national leadership to display the statesmanship to get Jammu and Kashmir out of the quagmire of killings by engaging in a meaningful dialogue in the State.

“The sooner it happens, the more we can get our State out of the vicious cycle of killings and destruction”, she added.

In a statement, the chief minister said that civilian deaths have brought a stark fact to fore that gun, either way of a militant or that of “security forces, is no solution for resolving issues”.

“I have reiterated it time and again that political issues need political interventions”, she said while appealing youth that their energies, youthfulness, dreams and aspirations are far more important and sacred to the society than their dead bodies or graves.

The Chief Minister appealed all sections of civil society, media, students, parents and other stakeholders to rise to this critical occasion, play their role and help in putting an end to this cycle of bloodshed in the State.

Mehbooba Mufti reiterated her stand that issues in Jammu and Kashmir can be resolved only through a sustained dialogue between all stakeholders.

She said the three decades’ long violence in the state is a testimony to the fact that guns from either side cannot ensure peace but a compassion driven reconciliation process based on mutual respect surely can.