Jammu: Reiterating that the abrogation of Article 370 was “unconstitutional as only a constituent assembly had the powers to revoke it”, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged the people of Jammu and Kashmir to come together and fight for its restoration. She said this while addressing a rally at Sunjwan on the outskirts of Jammu city.
Mehbooba also defended her party’s alliance with the BJP in 2014 saying her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wanted to take forward the political process initiated by Vajpayee, which “paved the way for ceasefire on the borders, opening of cross-border roads, reduced militancy and brought India and Pakistan closer.”
Mehbooba said that the genesis of J&K problem was “Ek Nishan, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan” slogan of present ruling dispensation.
“This slogan created seeds of discord among the people of Jammu and Kashmir who rejected the two-nation theory of Muhammed Ali Jinnah and preferred India over Pakistan, Sadly same J&K was being treated as a testing lab by the present ruling dispensation for its communal and divisive experiments,” she said.
PDP president said that there was animosity against the Pakistani founder for dividing Hindus and Muslims and creating a new nation Pakistan in the name of religion. “However, today there are hundreds of Jinnahs polarizing Indians. They belong to the party that did not play any role in the freedom struggle,” she took a dig at BJP.
In yet another indirect verbal assault against it (BJP), Mehbooba likened its rule to that of former Pakistani military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq and accused it (BJP) “poisoning” people’s minds.