{"id":35311,"date":"2020-12-11T19:29:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T13:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=35311"},"modified":"2020-12-11T19:29:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T13:59:50","slug":"for-bjp-jk-is-not-a-political-but-religious-problem-mehbooba-mufti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=35311","title":{"rendered":"For BJP, J&K is not a political but religious problem: Mehbooba Mufti"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Srinagar<\/strong>: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister J&K Mehbooba Mufti said that unity of regional mainstream political parties under the umbrella of PAGD is “begining” of the fight for the restoration of Article 370. She said J&K is not a political but a religious problem for BJP that can only be solved by changing the religious composition, by ensuring Muslims become a minority in the only Muslim-majority state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

According to Kashmir News Service (KNS) monitoring, Mehbooba while speaking to national daily defended the particiation of PAGD into ongoing DDC polls, saying, \u201cWhat was the other option? To leave the field open for the BJP and its proxies and be labelled as Pakistani agents? A boycott would have only helped them spread their tentacles deeper into the system here, already controlled by an administration subservient to Delhi\u2019s whims and fancies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

While accusing the administration of preventing her from moving out, she listed steps like the domicile law, eviction of Gujjars and the shifts in the government\u2019s stand on the alleged Roshni land scam, saying, \u201cFor the BJP, J&K is not a political but a religious problem that can only be solved by changing the religious composition, by ensuring Muslims become a minority in the only Muslim-majority state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The PDP chief added, \u201cOur fears of demographic changes have never been exaggerated or misplaced. All the disruptive policies and actions are in full swing \u2014 be it domicile law, eviction of Gujjars, cancellation of lease of local hoteliers or outsourcing of natural resources like sand and stone. All these substantiate their motives to disempower locals and gradually ensure that outsiders outnumber the locals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

On the government filing a review petition on the Roshni Act, seeking to distinguish between landless cultivators and individuals residing in dwellings in small areas and rich and wealthy land grabbers, Mufti said it meant their \u201ccommunal motive\u201d and \u201cfake and malicious propaganda\u201d of projecting the scheme as a scam had failed. \u201cEventually, the fact that Jammu benefited more than the Valley (due to the Act) has become public. In Jammu 3,50,000 kanals (1 kanal is 0.125 acres) were transferred under the Roshni Act against 33,000 kanals in the Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The PDP chief said it was important for the PAGD to fight for the right to campaign in the DDC polls. \u201cThe only way to deal with bullies is by standing up to them\u2026 Every excuse under the sun is used to curb my movements. Tonight, I received a letter from the J&K Police citing security issues once again to defer my trip to Budgam until elections are over. If security is such a hassle, how are the top tier of BJP leaders and their proxies allowed to move around freely within Kashmir?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mehbooba said PDP youth president Waheed ur Rehman Para had been arrested as he had refused \u201cto join the BJP or their proxies\u201d. \u201cDespite being detained illegally for more than a year, he still placed his faith in democracy and decided to fight the DDC elections. His subsequent arrest reeks of political vendetta and is being used to strike fear in youth in the Valley,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

She accused the Centre of using the NIA and Enforcement Directorate to \u201cintimidate every section\u201d of society in Kashmir. \u201cInitially the GoI\u2019s diabolical narrative was confined to pinning the blame on mainstream parties for every problem that ails J&K,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now they are harassing and intimidating every section of the society, be it businessmen, journalists or social activists. The idea is to stifle and choke all outlets of dissent and render people economically and emotionally vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

About her recent claim that the government wants to ban the PDP, Mufti said, \u201cDespite the Centre engineering a split in the PDP and other pressure tactics, we are still resisting the illegal unconstitutional changes that took place on August 5, 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

She said the formation of the PAGD was the start, and they would chalk out \u201ca peaceful and non-violent strategy\u201d for retrieving \u201cwhat was unlawfully snatched from the people of J&K\u201d. \u201cResistance is a matter of choice and I have made that choice. Having said that, I alone, or even the PAGD, cannot fight this battle successfully unless people join this movement. Unfortunately by reducing it to binaries of mainstream versus the government of India, the media is doing a great disservice to the larger cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

She said she was not surprised by the Congress distancing itself from the PAGD. \u201cThe Congress is a national party with its own constraints\u2026 But it is clear that mainstream local parties in Jammu and Kashmir will have to stand together for a larger cause\u2026 The aspirations of the people are what will serve as a glue to keep this alliance together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mufti, who spent 14 months in jail after the scrapping of J&K\u2019s special status and its split into two Union Territories, said, \u201cIf there is one lesson I have learnt and re-learnt in the past two years, it is that one must not take their rights and personal liberties for granted. We might be the world\u2019s largest democracy on paper but the truth is that we are heading towards a dictatorship where the Constitution is mangled every day. The truth is distorted to such an extent that lines are blurred between facts and fiction.\u201d (KNS)<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister J&K Mehbooba Mufti said that unity of regional mainstream political parties under the umbrella of PAGD is “begining” of the fight for the restoration of Article 370. She said J&K is not a political but a religious problem for BJP that can only be solved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}