Srinagar, Feb 16 :
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that there is no “normalcy” in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Riding on a high horse doesn’t mean that everything is alright in Kashmir”, Mehbooba told media persons in Srinagar on Sunday.
She said the people of Kashmir are watching everything silently and don’t presume it is normalcy.
“There is nothing normal in Kashmir. If the situation could have been right, the Home Minister wouldn’t call security review meetings”, the PDP President said and added, “The Lieutenant Governor is also calling security review meetings one in Jammu and another in Kashmir”.
Mehbooba said, “People were expecting that when the elected Government will be formed, there will be a decrease in the termination of employees, but nothing happened”.
She said of the three officials who were terminated, one of them was Constable Firdous, who was injured by militants and had 50 stitches on his body. He has been staying in the Qamarwari area of downtown Srinagar since 2022 and has not visited his ancestral home.
“I request the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as he has been given a big mandate by the people and shoulder a bigger responsibility…the illegitimate and unconstitutional decision taken in 2019 in the Parliament, whether he is going to give a stamp on that? If that happens, our case of Article 370 and 35A will weaken”, Mehbooba remarked.
She stated that the business rule in the Assembly of which the PDP, Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Lone, and Awami Itihad Party headed by Engineer Rashid has not been chosen as its members, instead Bharatiya Janata Party has been given a seat.
“I want to tell the BJP government that the delegation sent here in 2016 to talk to the separatists of Jammu and Kashmir, but they (separatists) did not reciprocate and they felt that at the behest of stone pelting or by burning police stations and hospitals, the cause of Jammu and Kashmir would be resolved..but that does not happen”, she said adding “come to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in a similar way to redress their grievances who have tremendously suffered in all these years”, Mehbooba said.
“If the government of India wants to keep Jammu and Kashmir with them with respect, follow the road map provided by the late PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Syed and it is the best time to come to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to redress their grievances”, she emphasized.
Mehbooba urged the government to resume trade from Rawalakot, Muzaffarabad, and reopen the Jammu Sialkot road also.
She urged to bring back the detainees and undertrials languishing in outside jails to Kashmir so that their relatives could meet them and stop arresting innocent people.
