CHAMLIYAL BORDER (TIP): Batting for revival of the India-Pakistan reconciliation process to bring about peace in Jammu & Kashmir, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on June 23 said if hostilities between the two neighbours can become news, why cannot cultural bonhomie.

“I wonder if hostilities can become news between the two neighbours, why can’t such cultural bonhomie,” she told reporters here.

Mehbooba joined thousands of devotees from the two countries at the shrine of Baba Chamliyal near the international border (IB) in Ramgarh sector of Samba district on the occasion of the annual mela (fair) of the mystic saint.

MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, state industries minister Chander Parkash Ganga and state tourism minister Priya Sethi accompanied the chief minister.

Mehbooba said given its socio-religious significance, Chamliyal could become the hub of a new movement for reconciliation in the region.

“I hope our good intentions are reciprocated by our neighbour,” she said, emphasizing on people-to-people contact between the two countries “to remove mistrust and create a congenial atmosphere for dialogue and reconciliation”. The PDP leader said like “siblings locked in an endless rivalry”, India and Pakistan have bickered for well over six decades.