Addresses first district level convention after release
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 16: Former Chief Minister and president People’s Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti today said they want restoration of pre – Aug 5, 2019 position to Jammu and Kashmir and not Statehood.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a party function at Kupwara, Mehbooba said that they were not talking about the restoration of Statehood but about the status of Jammu and Kashmir which it had before August 5, 2019 and peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir issue.
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She said that the Jammu and Kashmir issue should be resolved by initiating dialogue with Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir as there has been lot of bloodshed due to the contentious Jammu and Kashmir issue.
Mehbooba demanded the release of all Kashmiri people including political leaders who are languishing in various jails in and outside Jammu and Kashmir.
She criticized the BJP led Government for anti-people policies, stating that the Government is suppressing all those voice which raise concern about the policies of the Government. “If anybody is raising voice against them that voice is being suppressed and recently everybody watched how they arrested a 21-year-old girl for raising her voice in favour of the farmers who are protesting against newly framed farm laws,” she said.
The PDP president said that the voices are not being silenced in Kashmir only but everywhere in the country, however, more harsh measures are being taken in Kashmir.
On being asked about the future of Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), she said that the alliance is talking about the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the people want this alliance to work and it will continue to work till people want it to work.
Earlier while addressing first district level workers convention of the party after her release in the border district of Kupwara, Mehbooba urged the party cardre to put up a spirited struggle for restoration of Constitutional rights of that were taken away illegally and unconstitutionally on August 5, 2019 while continuing to advocate the resolution of the core issue of J&K through dialogue and reconciliation as envisioned by party’s late founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
She asserted that PDP would use all peaceful, democratic and Constitutionally accepted means to fight for restoration of special status of J&K and resolution of the issue of J&K underlining that the violent means have never yielded any good.
“We were robbed of our legitimate rights by means of a Constitutional fraud and we would fight for their restoration by all peaceful and acceptable means. And in our struggle, we should not lose sight of the fact that not only have violent means not delivered ever but have even delegtimize the struggles that by peaceful means were all genuine and legitimate,” Mehbooba said.
Reminding those trying to create a false equivalence of J&K with other States in the union of India, Mehbooba underlined that J&K had not merged but acceded to India with a promised special Constitutional status.
“Ours was a special case where in a Muslim majority State acceded to a secular India and not merged with it subject to certain guarantees including a special Constitutional status. But New Delhi trampled upon the very special status that formed the foundation of this accession. This was not only illegal and unconstitutional but unethical as well. But we are not ready to accept and normalize this betrayal. We would continue to fight till our rights are restored.” she added.
She also underlined that while the fight for restoration of Constitutional rights has gained immediacy, there is no room to lose sight of the larger picture wherein the people of J&K are to be brought out of miseries by resolving the larger political issue of J&K through dialogue and reconciliation and make J&K a bridge of peace in South Asia.
“While the immediate struggle at hand is about restoration of our Constitutional rights, the larger goal remains the resolution of the issue of J&K through dialogue and reconciliation as envisioned by our late founder Mufti Sahab that forms the very ethos of a political movement called PDP”, she said.
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