Won’t contest Assembly polls till 370 restored’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 23: Former Chief Minister and president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, today accused Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) of connecting her to terror funding and said that they failed to fight her politically.
Addressing a press conference here this evening, Mehbooba accused the BJP of misusing agencies against her. “They are not fighting politically. Fight me politically not through NIA and other agencies. They have nothing to stick to me regarding corruption, and through Waheed. They have tried to connect me to the terror funding. They are cowards. We have been helping the family of militants through proper bank accounts, this is something that I said in past as well”, she said.
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She feared arrest and said that she doesn’t know whether it is her last interact with media. “We want everything within the Constitution of India. And, I will not be silent about the issues faced by J&K people. I don’t know if this is going to be my last interaction with you, because you do not know what happens next”, she said.
The PDP president said that they should fight her politically and not use agencies against her. “If they have got guts, then fight me politically not through their mistresses-NIA, etc. Whosoever resists, they defame them. If they are not able to fight a woman politically, then they should be sitting back home and wear bangles. They have no business to be ruling this country as they are misusing the agencies. Every law they bring in, people come out in protest”, she said.
She asked them to arrest her rather than harassing her family, colleagues and friends. “They have destroyed this country. If they want to arrest me, come to me directly and stop harassing my family, colleagues and friends”, she said.
She added that the president of the youth wing of the party was interrogated. “Waheed was taken soon after he filed the papers. They tried a lot to make Waheed accept something so that they could reach me. He was interrogated, he was sleep-deprived”, she said.
The PPD president said that she was pressurised but won’t budge. “I was conveyed by them that I should think about my future and was asked to stop talking about people of J&K, but I did not budge. I will keep talking about the rights of people”, she said.
Mehbooba said that they are using agencies like NIA and ED to further their interests. “They have made NIA, ED and other agencies as their weapons. They are now trying to audit the last resting place of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, this is how low they have stooped. Taking a loan for us has become corruption. They are even after my sister, my mother; they are trying to find something”, she said.
The PDP president accused the Government of trampling the rights of the people and targeting the dissent. “Elections are not the only way in the politics, some rights are to be given to the people-tell me, and since the day they said that they want to extend the Constitution of India to J&K, where have the rights of the people of this region gone? One single protest and next moment you will find yourself behind bars, they can detain anyone”, she said.
She said that her party would have won more seats had there been no rebels of other parties like NC and PC fighting against their candidates. “We had contested on 61 seats only, we got 30 seats. It would have been more than that had there been no rebels fighting against us-such as that of NC, PC. The tally would have been more”, she said.
Mehbooba said that she is satisfied with the performance of her party despite it being bulldozed, “I am pleasantly surprised by the election results because of the way they had bulldozed my party as they believe in carrot and stick policy. The combined performance of the PAGD was exceptional. At the same time, if we had got a level playfield, we would have secured 135 out of 140 seats”, she said.
She accused BJP of winning seats in Kashmir by manipulation. “You know how the BJP won three seats in Kashmir, the one from Balhama, the PAGD candidate’s papers were rejected from that seat. They did manipulation and effectively used the machinery. The one in Tulail, that is a garrison of forces, and only God and they know what they did there”, she said.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba has also declared she would not contest any election until the abrogation of Article 370 and the scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir was reversed. She said this in an interview to national news channel.
On the possibility of fighting future polls as part of the seven-party alliance and a potential power tussle between rivals National Conference and PDP, she said: “When it comes to assembly polls, I will not fight any elections until and unless Jammu and Kashmir’s own Constitution is brought back, until Article 370 is restored.” She said she could even move the International Court of Justice, if need be.
“We have been rivals, but for the larger cause of J&K, we can all get together. We are Kashmiris at the end of the day. We are not talking only about elections but for the larger cause of restoring what was lost,” Ms Mufti said.
“Whenever Assembly polls are held we will sit together and discuss (on Chief Ministership). I am not in the race.”
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