Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 31: Former Chief Minister and president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti today said that party will take action against its two Parliament Members, who abstained from voting in Rajya Sabha against the triple talaq bill.
Speaking to reporters, the PDP president said it is wrong and the MPs should have voted against it. “It was wrong. They should have voted against it. I later learnt that they moved out (of the House). Although they talked against the bill but later they moved out. We are going to take action against them,” she said.
“Terming a Muslim husband who does that (triple talaq) criminal and jailing him, in my opinion, is a big mistake,” she added.
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The two MPs of the PDP -Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Nazir Ahmad Laway- spoke against the Triple Talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha but abstained from voting yesterday. PDP faced severe criticism from other parties for abstention of its MPs from voting. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah accusing Mehbooba on twitter of helping the BJP-led Central Government with the numbers needed to pass the bill.
Despite the Government lacking majority in Rajya Sabha, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019 was passed in the House on Tuesday with 99 members in its favour while 84 members voted against it. Besides the PDP, some MPs from Congress, SP and BSP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and MPs of YSR Congress also abstained.
However, PDP MP Fayaz Ahmad Mir said that the bill was fraudulently passed. “I’ll give answer to the party leadership in this regard if any action will be taken against me”, he said.
“We don’t know how triple talaq bill was passed by the House. I along with another party member Nazir Ahmad Laway, expressed our party stand over the issue, later we went for a tea and meanwhile the bill was passed by the house fraudulently. The house had earlier decided the bill would be sent to the Select Committee for further deliberation”, he said.
And Mehbooba today urged the political parties in the State to forge unity for fight against possible assault on the special status of the State.
Speaking to the workers, she urged party workers to reach out to general public and workers of all other political parties in order to forge unity to fight possible assault on Articles 35A and 370.
“We are having consultations with our workers. I requested them to be in constant touch with the workers of other parties such as National Conference, Congress or even BJP. I told them to sit together and talk on the situation that has been created across the State with regard to the onslaught on the special status of the State”, she told reporters.
Mehbooba asked people to be ready to face any situation. “Our politics might be different, but the need of the hour is to unite and strive to safeguard the identity of the State. We have to remain together and be ready to face any situation”, she said.
She urged the political parties to leave aside the difference’s and work for safeguarding the special status of the State. “We the people of the Jammu and Kashmir share our unique identity and special status irrespective of party affiliations. Hence, I urge you to reach out to activists and workers of other party workers to generate consensus and unity in order to safeguard the special status. Our political differences with other parties notwithstanding, present times demand that we take lead to forge unity. Our future generations would judge us on our response to the present situation,” she added.
Mehbooba stressed the need of unity across the political, social, religious and regional divide in order to thwart any attack on the special Constitutional position of the State.
“We are going through tough times. Going by the developments and news reports, it seems we are in for a possible assault on our special Constitutional position in the Union of India. Article 35A secures our unique identity. Any attack on it must be fought in unison by every citizen of the State irrespective of political affiliations”, she told workers.
Mehbooba toured Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts of South Kashmir today and addressed gatherings of the top party workers.
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