Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, July 27: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today questioned the achievements of the Government since the abrogation of Article 370.
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Addressing party workers during the PDP’s raising day function held at the Sher-e-Kashmir park here, Mufti said the Government bifurcated J&K and Ladakh, resulting in hardships for the people of Ladakh and Jammu alike.
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“What have they achieved in these five years? The people of Ladakh are suffering, so are the people of Jammu. Jammu used to be the hub of the economy, but today they are suffering, let alone the people of Kashmir, who feel suffocated,” she said.
She said that the Government’s achievement over the last five days is that the people of North Kashmir, during the recently held Parliamentary elections, looked the other way.
“They voted in favor of self-determination. The people of North Kashmir did not even look at you. Mufti Sahab had carved a middle path; he used to say whatever will come, will come from this country,” she said.
She added: “North Kashmir people, who are considered more mainstream, also went away and voted in favor of self-determination. Is this an achievement? The PDP youth president, who was booked under terror charges, got 2 lakh votes.”
The former Chief Minister said that since the abrogation of Article 370, the Government has used UAPA, PSA, ED, NIA, CBI, SIU, and SIA against people.
She also spoke about the Jamaat-e-Islami-which is said to be contemplating fighting the Assembly elections-stating that when she was in power, she was asked to ban the organization, which she did not.
Mehbooba said that she would be happy if the Jamaat would fight elections. “They used to fight the elections earlier. I would be happy if they decide to fight the elections again; we will together fight under the democratic setup for our rights.”
Speaking about what she did when she was in power, Mufti said that her Government took back the FIRs against 12,000 youngsters. “Those who allied with the Government earlier instead brought POTA and established the Task Force.”
“Never has any CM been able to enforce a ceasefire. I did that for a month. It also happened earlier when Vajpayee was the PM, but it had to be repealed in just 15 days when the then CM said that he does not accept any ceasefire. He instead told the then DG to go and get them.”
She said that before going for the decision which was then taken on August 5, 2019, “they toppled the Government, and then broke the PDP, and then made the Article 370 move. Before that as well, I had been telling people that stones won’t get anything.”
Mufti demanded that the roads which were opened to connect people and businesses should be reopened, allowing J&K to connect with Central Asia. “These roads were shut under the pretext of supply of drugs, even as more drugs come in from the Gujarat port, but they won’t shut it down.”
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