Mehbooba sharpens attack on BJP: ‘You want to turn the whole country into Manipur’

Addressing the party’s 24th Foundation Day on Monday at Sher-e-Kashmir park in central Srinagar, the former J&K chief minister said, “Constituencies with a Muslim population have previously elected Pyare Lal Handoo, M L Fotedar, Manohar Koul, DP Dhar and we would do it again. But the BJP will not risk Muslims and Pandits coming together.”

She lauded the Sikh population of Kashmir for staying there throughout. “Why have they been forgotten,” She asked.

Mehbooba also attacked the BJP for confusing fear with peace. “How is this peace? You (BJP) want to turn the whole country into Manipur. We had assumed that they would learn their lessons from Gujarat and that would not be repeated anywhere in the country.”

Appealing to the Opposition coalition — INDIA — the PDP chief said in order to save the country and its Constitution, “we have to stay together”. She said that her party will support the Opposition’s efforts to safeguard the Constitution since “we lost our Constitution at their (BJP’s) hands”.

Asking the people of Jammu and Kashmir to stand united, she said that just like the people of Kargil and Leh, all regions of Jammu and Kashmir have to stay united so that “the central government is forced to raise a white flag”.

She said late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed founded the PDP not to become Chief Minister but to find a solution to the long standing conflict of Jammu and Kashmir. “We want a democratic solution to the Kashmir conflict which existed before as well as after 2019,” she said.

With regard to panchayat and urban local body polls scheduled in J&K by the end of the year, Mehbooba said, “We have to use every democratic avenue available to us, serve the people and speak the truth about the actual state of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Questioning the Centre’s achievements in J&K, the PDP chief said former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru hoisted the national flag at Lal Chowk in 1949 amongst lakhs of locals, while now, “they come here to hoist the flag with thousands of security forces and not a single Kashmiri”.

She said the people of J&K had joined the Union of India with hope and dignity to preserve their identity but all this had been squandered for the sake of votes. “Now they claim in the courts that everything is fine in J&K. I would urge the judiciary to pay attention to how many raids occur in a day in Kashmir, whether by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency, State Investigation Agency or Special Investigation Unit (SIU). There is hardly any other discussion in Kashmir,” she said.

While Mehbooba addressed the party’s main event at Srinagar, senior leaders addressed district level functions in different parts of Kashmir.

PDP leader Waheed Para on Monday said that most political parties, including the National Conference, have “limited their demands” to holding elections or seeking concessions from the BJP. Para also hit out at separatists saying they shut doors when an all-party delegation tried to hold a dialogue with them in 2016.

“One party is seeking restoration of statehood, the other wants the chief minister’s post. The biggest party, which is the National Conference, only wants elections to be held. Truth has to be told at whatever cost. There is a party which is begging the BJP for just a ministry, some want residential accommodation and some other only a personal security officer,” Parra said while addressing a party function in Pulwama district, a PDP stronghold in south Kashmir.