Mehbooba to BJP: Don’t behave like tribal raiders

She was speaking at PDP’s first major show of strength since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status — a convention organised by its youth wing — in Srinagar on Sunday.

Mehbooba Mufti, PDP Peoples Democratic Party, Srinagar news, Srinagar, Indian Express, India news, current affairs

Mufti said the Centre has adopted an iron-fist policy in the region and has suspended the fundamental rights of the people since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status in August 2019. (File Photo)

Asking the BJP to not behave like tribal raiders, J&K former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said that “the people of Kashmir know how to shoo away the raiders”. She was speaking at PDP’s first major show of strength since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status — a convention organised by its youth wing — in Srinagar on Sunday.

And at the convention, the PDP Youth president Waheed-ur-Rehma Parra made his first public appearance since he was freed on bail after over a year of incarceration in an alleged terror case.

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“I want to tell the BJP that when the tribal attackers raided Kashmir, the Indian army was not here. It was the Kashmiris who without a weapon or a stick shooed them away,” Mufti said while addressing the convention.

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Mufti said that Kashmir’s relation with India was constitutional and a relation of love but the BJP has played with the dignity and identity of the people here.

Mufti said the people of Jammu and Kashmir especially the young are going through a difficult phase but asked the people not to lose courage. She praised Parra for his ‘determination and courage”. “If someone asks me what is PDP…I will tell them that PDP is Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who faced the difficulties, who faced the jail but didn’t make a compromise,” she said.

Mufti also criticised the government’s decision to allow sale of beer from the departmental stores.

Bashaarat Masood

Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More

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