Srinagar: PDP President and former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday met Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh in Srinagar where the later was on a day long visit.

A spokesperson of PDP in a statement said that Mehbooba appealed Centre for the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan to end the present phase of acrimony and confrontation between the two south Asian neighbours.

“In her meeting with Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, Mufti said good relations with Pakistan have a positive impact on the ground situation in the State and it also encourages reconciliation among stakeholders within the State which automatically results into decline in alienation levels of people,” the statement said.

“She reminded the Union Home Minister that in the past when the two countries were in the best of relations, Jammu & Kashmir not only witnessed an era of minimal violence but also reconciliation and peoples’ active participation in democratic and developmental processes,” said PDP spokesman in a statement.

Expressing concern over the prevailing situation in the State, the PDP President also impressed upon the Union Home Minister to ensure that civilian killings and “collateral damage” during security operations are avoided at all costs.

“She told Ranjnath Singh that she believed every civilian killing not only adds to the alienation level of people here but also pushes the democratic and developmental process in the State to the back burner,” he said.

“She asked the Union Home Minister to direct all the security agencies to exercise maximum restraint and follow strictly the SoPs as laid down while dealing with the security situations in the State to ensure that civilian lives and property are not put to any risk in these operations,” the spokesman added.

“The Union Home Minister, it may be recalled, is on a day-long visit to Srinagar today during which he met the PDP President and discussed the overall security situation in the State,” said PDP spokesman in a statement.