Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 23: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said that the National Conference (NC)-led Government has become a part of moves “aimed at attacking J&K’s identity.”
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Speaking with reporters in reaction to the Government’s order of “overtaking” the Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT) schools in Kashmir, Mufti termed it as an “attack on the educational institutions, culture, and identity of J&K.”
“This is because there are only a few schools in J&K where moral and Islamic education is imparted alongside regular education. You don’t see many schools where such a balance exists,” she said.
The PDP Chief said that the decision has “struck at people’s trust deeply,” who, she said, were hoping that an elected Government would ensure an end to the “sustained attacks” on them. “That was the reason people gave NC 50 seats and 3 MPs,” she said.
Mufti said that it is unfortunate that instead of stopping such moves, another order has come. “It has struck at people’s trust deeply, and I cannot even imagine what they must be going through.”
She said that people of J&K knew that only NC would be able to save them from the “storm” and that, she said, was the reason people voted for them.
“People, keeping aside their ideologies, had voted for one party with the hope that the storm coming our way would be stopped. People thought PDP was gone and they would not be able to fight them.”
Before this, she said, the Urdu language had already been sidelined, and major chapters in the curriculum were taken out. “The Government remained silent. This time, it has even become a part of it.”
“Before this, the assets of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) were taken over and a ban was imposed. There was hope that once an elected Government came, the sustained attack on our identity and institutions would stop,” she said.
These schools, the PDP Chief said, have produced several renowned personalities, and nearly 50,000 students, families, and teachers are connected with them.
She noted that the children of poor people go to these schools, and these, she said, used to fill the gaps left by Government schools.
In 2016, Mufti said, when the situation was “very bad,” she was under pressure to crack down on Jamaat, slap PSA, and take other actions.
“All that is happening right now, I was asked to do, but I thought to myself: if I act against my own people without proof, only on the basis of ideology, how would that be just?” she said.
PDP president claimed that someone had told Delhi that whatever was happening in J&K was because of JeI. “But I took a stand, just like I did during the Kathua incident. And all this was when I didn’t even have a majority.”
In 2025, she said, NC has a majority, and despite that, they are taking such decisions.
“I think this is unfortunate. People say that NC and JeI have had a tussle dating back a long time, and how the people associated with the JeI were made to suffer,” she said.
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