Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 21: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said that for both Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and Congress, national interest is priority over Kashmir interests.
Speaking to reporters at Larnoo in Kokernag area of Anantnag, Mehbooba said that Congress hanged Afzal Guru to get votes and now BJP is raising the issue of Articles 370 and 35A for political gains.
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“Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir leased out forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to scrap Article 370 and hanged Afzal Guru only for votes in the previous Parliamentary elections and now BJP is talking about scraping Article 370 and Article 35-A to get votes in the ongoing Parliamentary elections”, she said.
When asked about her party’s position on self rule, Mehbooba said that Article 370 is part of self rule. “Self rule proposes the removal of word temporary in Article 370 and replace it with the word special to end the stalemate once forever”, she said.
When asked about the remark of Sadhvi Pragya over the demolition of Babri Masjid, the PDP chief condemned the remark and sought stringent action from the Election Commission of India against Sadhvi as she faces trial in very dangerous cases. She also condemned the killing of hundreds of innocent people in the serial blasts in Sri Lanka.
Mehbooba while highlighting the achievements of her as Chief Minister said that she withdrew FIRs against youth and dropped Ministers in Kathua minor girl’s rape case.
“I made the month-long ceasefire possible, I dropped 5000 FIRs against youth, I dropped two Ministers after Asifa’s case and all this during the time of BJP, you tell me who could have done this? I issued an order that wherever there is a Gujjar community settled they should not be forced to vacate from the land they are living in”, she said.
The PDP president asked the authorities not to harass the family members of the militants. “Authorities have to stop harassing helpless family members of militants. Mudasir and Aijaz Ahmad of Noorabad have been arrested and their house vandalized only because their brother was a militant. Such policies will certainly make Kashmiris more resentful vis a vis India,” Mehbooba tweeted.
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