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SRINAGAR, JAN 07 : Peoples Democratic Party chairperson and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday apologised for her toffee remark that she made during the peak of 2016 summer uprising.

Addressing workers on the death anniversary of his father late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed at Bijbehara in south Kashmir, Mehbooba said that she was concerned like a mother about the young people who were getting killed and injured.

“It hurt me that some people with vested interests were pushing young boys towards army camps and police stations,” she said.

“Didn’t I have this right to tell these children in a loud voice that you were part of my rallies… why were you asked to stand in the front of those rallies (protest demonstrations) where you, God forbid, got injured,” said Mehbooba while addressing her workers on the death anniversary of her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

“I still apologise if anyone was hurt,” she said: “What else can I do?”

Mehbooba was widely criticised for her comment during 2016 uprising that the “youth were not going to army camps and police stations to buy toffee and milk”.

“I am concerned for children like a mother. Was not my right to make such remarks. If anyone mother feels bad I apologize for that,” she added.

During the peak of 2016 summer uprising after the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani, Mehbooba while addressing a press conference in Srinagar along with the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh justified the killing of youth by saying that “they were not going to camps and police station to buy toffees and milk”.

Mehbooba also added that Narendra Modi ‘wasted’ his mandate as he didn’t initiate any dialogue with Pakistan.

In July 2016, while addressing a press conference with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar, when asked about the killings of youths in firing by security forces, she said: “Those youths were not going to Army camps and police stations to buy toffee and milk.”

Over 100 youths were killed in 2016 during the unrest that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Addressing party workers on the death anniversary of her father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, she said on Monday: “I was concerned about my children being pushed to rallies where they get injured.

“Didn’t I have this right to tell these children in a loud voice that you were a part of my rallies, why were you asked to stand in front of the protest demonstrations where you, God forbid, get injured. Still, I apologize. What else can I do?”

During the peak of 2016 summer uprising after the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani, Mehbooba while addressing a press conference in Srinagar along with the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh justified the killing of youth by saying that “they were not going to camps and police station to buy toffees and milk”. (PTK)

SRINAGAR, JAN 07: Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta today said that article 35A and 370 is nothing for people of Jammu and Kashmir as this has no benefits.

While speaking to News agency Press Trust of Kashmir Gupta said, “The continuation of Article 35A will not have any benefit for the people of Jammu and Kashmir”. He added that only few people get benefit of Article 35a and 370 while common people of Kashmir never get any benefit from both of these articles.

He added, “In previous regimes whosoever was against India they encouraged them and that was the main reason behind increasing militancy in Kashmir. He added now NIA take charge against such people as well as against Hurriyat.

He further added, “From last 70 years such people create problems in Kashmir. It takes time to get normalcy back in valley. He said that only 4% people are creating problem in Kashmir rest are fine with India.

He furthers added that Hurriyat only condemn the killing of Muslims adding that they will never condemn killing of Sikh and Hindus in Kashmir. He said that the ending of Hurriyat is near. ” These 4 percent people will also leave them soon ”.(PTK)

Asks Mehbooba to move beyond apology and support UN resolutions

Handwara: Asking New Delhi to understand that whosoever goes against the popular sentiments of Kashmiris will repent sooner than later, AIP President Er. Rasheed has said that though Mehbooba Mufti’s apology for her milk and toffee remarks may not bring precious lives back but it has send a strong message to all those who are busy day and night to break will of Kashmiris who are fighting for right to self-determination. In a statement issued today Er. Rasheed said “Mehbooba Mufti has every right to seek apology for her misleading, insulting and ill-intended remarks, but her apology should open eyes of New Delhi. Had late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah been alive he too would have sought unconditional apology from Kashmiris for his surrender in 1975 and calling his 22 years struggle a political wandering. It is people’s will, sacrifices and indigenous cause that has compelled Mehbooba Mufti to apologize and surrender her ego. Her words may not bring precious lives back but carry a huge message for all politicians, men in uniform especially those cops of J&K police who feel no shame in justifying killings and committing atrocities on Kashmiris”. Er. Rasheed while reacting to Mehbooba Mufti’s apology saying “I still apologize if anyone was hurt by her milk and toffee remarks………, what else I can do”, asked her that that lest she can do is to take a pledge that she will not dilute the Kashmir cause by talking about so called self-rule formula and will rather seek a resolution to Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions. Er. Rasheed asked Mehbooba Mufti not to repeat every time about Vajpayee’s Kashmir policy and termed all those statements praising Vajpayee’s Kashmir policy as misleading and confusing, for the reason that Vajpayee never talked about a realistic resolution to the internationally recognized dispute.

JAMMU, JAN 07: BJP’s Yuva Morcha National Vice President Er Aijaz Hussain said Kashmiri Pandits constitute an important part of the composite culture of the Valley and the community has made a substantial contribution in several walks of life but now has been made to suffer from pillar to post for there rights.

National Vice President Er Aijaz Hussain was speaking in a function organised by Kashmiri Displaced District of BJYM in Purkhoo camp Jammu in which large number of youths and others from Kashmiri pandit community participated.
Er Aijaz further added that Governer should make serious efforts in getting back the Pandit community to valley which are part and parcel of our culture and heritage.
He further added that rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit families, which had to leave the Valley in 1990’s after militancy spread in various parts of the region is still pending and added government is well abreast with their problems and is contemplating various programmes for their welfare.

He further added “Those who forced Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir and who had done the atrocities and crimes against the community will punished, added Kashmiri Pandits are important part of the composite culture of the Valley”.

“Kashmiri Pandits have given a lot to the valley of Kashmir in all areas and we must remain indebted to them”, Aijaz said.

New Delhi: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was 53 years old, and just days into his tenure as India’s first Muslim home minister when his daughter Rubaiya, a 23-year-old medical intern, was abducted from Srinagar on 8 December 1989.

Her abductors, members of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), wanted five fellow militants released from prison in exchange for her release. Against the advice of the then chief minister Farooq Abdullah, Sayeed managed to get the five militants released.

This decision is said to have helped catalyse the Kashmir militancy’s bloody 1990s chapter, and remains one of the defining points of Sayeed’s legacy.

Another was his knack for bold political moves, the last of which saw the founder of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) forge a tie-up with ideological opponent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government in the restive state.

Sayeed, two-time chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, passed away on 7 January 2016, months before the killing of Hizbul Muahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on 8 July thrust the Valley into a state of fresh turmoil.

The tie-up with the BJP has since collapsed, and Jammu & Kashmir remains on edge, with his own party hit by rebellion.

Three years after his death, Sayeed’s stated objective for forming the PDP, to write a new roadmap for Kashmir, appears elusive.

“Mufti Sayeed’s death was the biggest setback for the party,” said political analyst Noor Ahmed Baba. “In the process, the party has considerably weakened. Public image has also been damaged.”

Rise to prominence

Sayeed was born on 12 January 1936 in Bijbehara, Anantnag. He graduated in law from Srinagar’s Sri Pratap College, before pursuing a master’s at Aligarh Muslim University.

According to his profile on the Lok Sabha website – he was a two-time MP while a member of the Congress – he was a gardening enthusiast who enjoyed studying political history and literature.

He also loved golf, and reportedly harboured a dream to pitch Kashmir as a “golfing paradise” to tourists.

His affair with active politics began in the 1950s, and he first entered the state legislative assembly in 1962, aged all of 26.

Over the years, his political career spanned different parties – from the Democratic National Conference (DNC), a splinter group of the J&K National Conference (JKNC), to the Congress, the Janata Dal, and back to the Congress, before he formed the PDP in 1999.

His first stint in the legislature was on a JKNC ticket, after its merger with the DNC.

By 1975, he had switched sides to the Congress. During ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’ Sheikh Abdullah’s final stint heading J&K, Sayeed is said to have emerged as Delhi’s man in the Valley.

“Basically, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was very suspicious of Shiekh even after the 1975 accord (which called for the continuation of Article 370, among other things) happened,” political commentator Noor-ul-Qamrain told ThePrint.

“So, she keep a tab on him through Mufti. He became the eyes and ears of New Delhi,” he added.

According to Qamrain, Mufti was the “blue-eyed boy” of the Congress in those days.

The 1980s saw the emergence of the second generation of Abdullahs as Farooq rode a sympathy wave in the wake of his father Sheikh Abdullah’s death to win the majority in the 1983 election.

However, a year later, the government was dismissed by the then governor Jagmohan after 13 JKNC MLAs defected to the Congress.

Qamrain said Sayeed was the architect of this rebellion in the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference.

“Farooq’s brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah made a new government in the state,” he added, with reports suggesting the coup was supported by the Congress.

In 1986, Sayeed was made the union minister for tourism in the Rajiv Gandhi government. But ties frayed by the next year, when an accord between Rajiv Gandhi and Farooq to bring stability in Kashmir brought the latter back as chief minister.

Sayeed then quit the Congress just as V.P. Singh was sacked by the party for speaking out on the Bofors scandal.

When an anti-Congress coalition, the National Front, formed the government under V.P. Singh at the Centre in 1989, Sayeed became home minister.

The PDP

Mufti launched the PDP in 1999 when, according to Kashmir watchers, no one was ready to fight elections in that volatile time.

It was his own daughter Mehbooba Mufti, his successor as chief minister, who emerged as the foot soldier of the party and took the PDP door-to-door in the Kashmir Valley.

By opting for “the pen and inkpot” as the party symbol, Sayeed wanted to write a new roadmap for Kashmir where he would emerge as the accepted leader of masses.

Though he has openly sought to balance his identity as Kashmiri and Indian, both father and daughter came to be identified with a “soft-separatist” ideology.

In its maiden election in 2002, the PDP won 16 of the state’s 16 assembly seats, scoring 21 in 2008. In 2014, it emerged as the biggest player with 28 seats.

© The Print

“Besides, hundreds of schools are without electricity and regular water supply,” reads the memo that has requested the State Administrative Council for funding to strengthen infrastructure in schools.

An estimated 50 per cent of the 16.5 lakh students enrolled in Jammu and Kashmir government schools sit on the floor in their classrooms that have no benches and desks, a memo submitted by the education department to the government said.
“Besides, hundreds of schools are without electricity and regular water supply,” reads the memo that has requested the State Administrative Council for funding to strengthen infrastructure in schools.

According to official figures, of the 23,773 schools, at least 17,901 are without electricity, 17,167 without boundary walls, 17,112 without playgrounds, and 26,000 toilet units and lavatories in schools are in a dilapidated condition.
Nearly 1000 girls’ schools have no toilets.
“Budgetary allocation for infrastructure development in the education sector is meagre as the major chunk of the grants goes into paying salaries of government teachers,” said a senior education department official.
He said that recently the State Administrative Council allocated Rs 100 crore for purchasing furniture and Rs 45 crore for ensuring regular water and electricity supply in the government schools.
“Inadequate infrastructure in schools is a big barrier to enrollment and participation. The overcrowded spaces lacking adequate sanitary facilities and water for hygiene not only result in dropouts but also have health implications. Girls in particular are pushed out of school if facilities are inadequate,” he said and added that people in rural areas do realise the importance of education but not all of them can afford private-school education for their children.
“That is why ill-equipped government schools are their only option,” he said.
Last year, former minister for education Syed AltafBukhari had stated the school education department was facing an annual shortfall of Rs 580 crore to meet various expenditures, including the salaries.
The literacy rate in J&K is 68.74 percent while in rural areas (excluding 0-6 population), it is 63.18 percent.
The poor school infrastructure is also one of the many reasons for the low literacy rates in the rural areas of the border state.

© Greater Kashmir

Mehmooda lost her husband Shahnawaz Ahmed Mir, a driver, in a road accident at Udhampur in 2009. Mehmooda was left with a daughter and two sons. Her younger son Amir is mentally challenged.

First her house was razed and then her 14-year old son was detained by police, Mahmooda, a widow, screamed while requesting for the release of her son.
“First the government forces destroyed my house and then my son Faisal was detained. What is our fault, why did they make us homeless?” asked Mehmooda, crying inconsolably.

Mehmooda lost her husband Shahnawaz Ahmed Mir, a driver, in a road accident at Udhampur in 2009. Mehmooda was left with a daughter and two sons. Her younger son Amir is mentally challenged.
Near the debris of the house people were collecting money for this poor family and little Amir was searching for his toys.
Mehmooda returned from police station Tral after failing to get her son released. At Aripal thousands of people were waiting for her. “Don’t worry everything will be alright. These are testing times from God,” people consoled Mehmooda near her razed house.
Recalling the horrors of the gunfight at her house, she said: “On the snowy Saturday morning a masked army soldier entered into my house and asked about the presence of a militant. I denied because I knew there was none except me and my children. Within no time forces opened fire and asked us to vacate.”
“I assured them that there was no militant inside but they did not listen to my pleas and destroyed our house. They deliberately razed my house and eventually could not find any militant,” said Mehmooda.
She accused the forces of ruining the life of a widow. “I don’t have any source of income apart from a petty amount which I get for working as a sweeper. My husband has died and my little children are now homeless,” she rued.
Mehmooda’s nephew Asif Ahmed Mir said, “Had the forces began the operation with regular searches, things wouldn’t have been worse for this downtrodden family. They took the 14 year old boy into custody and forced him to make a statement that there was a militant hiding in his house.”
A police official however said a militant was present in the house who escaped.

The Story Was Published in Greater Kashmir Largest Circulated Daily Of Jammu Kashmir

Says waving of black flags a ploy of Indian agencies, ‘Mirwaiz trying to unite people, but vested interest want to divide us’

‘Mehbooba’s hands drenched with blood, don’t allow her to enter houses of martyrs’

Srinagar: Condemning the recent Jamia Masjid incident were ISIS flags were waived by masked youth, Hizb ul Mujahideen’s field operational commander Riyaz Naikoo on Sunday said that ISIS flags are being waved at the behest of Indian agencies and youth are being mislead. “India has long been trying to break us and now it has come under the guise of Islam. Youth don’t understand that it’s a ploy by Indian agencies to defame our movement,” Naikoo is being heard in a audio message viral on social media network.

According to KNO, Naikoo is also heard saying that people should be aware of such conspiracies. “We are an emotional nation. We should use our mind to understand enemies plot, ” he said, adding that waving of ISIS flags is equal to going against the freedom movement and to ditch the blood of martyrs.
“War is but strategy. One has to use emotions and well as mind in it. One has to decide what’s to be done and what not, ” he said, while accusing people waving ISIS flags of trying to connect kashmir freedom movement with Global terror network.

“There are people with vested interests who are pushing it. When we are alive they call us murtads but when we embrace martyrdom they appear in our funerals with flags,” He is heard saying.
He also said that at one hand Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is trying to unite people for the just cause but these people with vested intrests want to divide us.
Naikoo also asked people not to let former chief Minister Mehbooba mufti enter the houses of martyrs.

“As elections approach she is visiting martyrs families. It’s a drama. Her hands are drenched with blood. She is the same person who said that ‘those killed were not there to buy toffees’, ” he said.
“I urge people to throw her out from their houses and don’t let her in,” Naikoo is heard saying. The veracity of the clip couldn’t be verified.(KNO)

Srinagar: Waking up to prevent the weapon snatching incidents, the police have seized four weapons of the PSOs of BJP leader Altaf Thakur at his official Dalgate residence.

Sources told KNO that on January 3, the police party led by SDPO Nehru Park police station entered the official residence at Dalgate and seized four weapons of his PSOs who had gone to have dinner.

“I have now shot a letter to Governor SP Malik, seeking a fresh security cover. At present, I have no security at all,” Thakur told KNO. The move comes in the wake of weapon snatching incident at the official residence of Congress leader Muzaffar Parray at Jawahar Nagar government quarters (J37).

Four PSOs of Parray were suspended from the service for direction of duty.” A series of steps have been taken to prevent the weapon loot or weapon snatching incidents by the Police,” he said.(KNO)