Kashmir Issue Made More Complicated by Abrogating Article 370, Says Mehbooba Mufti

“By abrogating article 370, the Kashmir issue has not been solved but it has been made more complicated. The government needs to talk to the neighbouring country and to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve the Kashmir issue.”

SRINAGAR — Peoples Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that the country is not being run on constitution but on the agenda of the BJP.

Addressing a press conference at her Gupkar residence, she said that J&K is a political issue but BJP is trying to give it another shape by making it a religious issue. “Jammu and Kashmir has been made a laboratory and Hijab has been made an issue just because it represents a particular community’s symbol. All this has been started from here as Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority state.”

She said that, however, PDP is going to fight it tooth and nail and they will resist all the oppression which is taking place in J&K. “We are not going to give them an easy way to move forward. If India wants to be a successful nation, then Kashmir issue needs to be  addressed by holding a dialogue,” she added.

Mufti said that she would be called anti-national for her statements because whosoever talks against BJP, their agenda, or Godse, then that person is labelled as anti-national.

“By abrogating article 370, the Kashmir issue has not been solved but it has been made more complicated. The government needs to talk to the neighbouring country and to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to resolve the Kashmir issue,” she said.

She said that BJP is getting benefitted by the prevailing situation in J&K as the bloodshed happening here is proving beneficial for them.

“But it won’t last long as the people of entire country have understood that India, which was known for its secularism, has been questioned in the world because of Hijab issue. India has been isolated internationally because of the religious controversies happening here,” she said.

About delimitation, she said that the delimitation report has been drafted only to favour the BJP and it was carried out to disempower the people of J&K.

“After 2019, the centre has disempowered the people of J&K politically, economically and socially. The rights and powers were snatched by the people of J&K. Instead of giving government jobs, the employees are being terminated. Posts of SSB, PSC have been withdrawn so that people from whole country will opt for these posts while earlier only the people of J&K were eligible.”

She said that PDP condemns arrests and harassments of journalists in Kashmir as the truth is being stopped from coming out.

“It does not happen in any country that the media is stopped from performing their duties. Journalism is seen as a crime in Kashmir. Many journalists such as Sajad Gul, Fahad Shah and others have been arrested. A system of maligning the name of journalists has been started in Kashmir. Many of them have moved to other places after being named in FIR’s. We hope that international agencies and institutions besides national agencies will come forward and will demand the release of all the journalists,” Mufti said.

Replying to a question, she said that People’s Alliance of Gupkar Delegation (PAGD) is intact and the government is trying every effort to break its unity but they will remain steadfast and will fight for the rights of the people.

About foreign investors, she said that where people are being caged and even their thoughts are monitored, then what will new investments benefit and mean to such a place.