Restore democratic rights in J&K before elections are held: Mehbooba Mufti

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader said that while polls in Kashmir are important, more urgent is the restoration of basic democratic rights of the people there.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday that a resolution of the crisis in Kashmir is a challenge before the entire country, not of Kashmir alone.

Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Kashmir - Changing The Discourse’ during the relaunch of Frontline magazine, a sister publication of The Hindu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader said that while polls in Kashmir are important, more urgent is the restoration of basic democratic rights of the people there.

“Several Kashmiri youths were taken away and put in jails outside Kashmir (in 2019). Their families are so poor that they are not able to meet them, let alone fight these cases in court. Journalists have been arrested... Before elections, democratic rights should be restored,” she said during the discussion moderated by Frontline Editor Vaishna Roy.

While stating that ensuring the restoration is the joint responsibility of the Opposition parties, Ms. Mufti took potshots at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over raising a hue and cry over the Centre’s ordinance on the appointing and transferring of bureaucrats in Delhi while supporting the Centre’s 2019 decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.

The PDP chief said normalcy was not the norm in the region. “Some 21 days before G-20, hundreds of youths were put in detention centres, many houses on the road to the airport were taken over by security forces. They couldn’t manage one G-20 meeting in Leh. Militancy would not have spilled over to Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu if things were normal,” she said.

Charging the Bharatiya Janata Party with treating Kashmir like a milch cow, the PDP chief said her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had put everything at stake to align with the BJP and form a government in J&K in 2015.

“He could have become the CM with Congress’ help, but he wanted to engage with the BJP. He wanted political dialogue with the new BJP, he knew [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is going to stay here for long,” Ms. Mufti said.