Srinagar,
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed deep anguish and grief over the killing of five civilians on Sunday in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, saying political issues needed political intervention.

“It sounds very depressing to note that our state is losing young lives to the unending cycle of violence,” the Chief Minister said in a statement. She said the civilian deaths in Shopian had 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. The Chief Minister appealed to youth that “their energies, youthfulness, dreams and aspirations are far more important and sacred to society than their dead bodies or graves”.

She appealed to sections of civil society, media, students, parents and other stakeholders to rise to “this critical occasion” and play their role and help in putting an end to “this cycle of bloodshed”.