Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants them to surrender and raise a white flag which they will not do. Mehbooba said this during her address to PDP workers in Srinagar during party 24th foundation day. “The BJP wants to raise us to raise the white flag which we are not going to do,” the former chief minister said. “ And it will be the BJP that will have to raise the white flag soon.” She asked people of Jammu and Kashmir to forge unity to defeat BJP.
“If Shia, Sunni, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christians, Bodh, Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pahari forge unity BJP would be forced to raise white flag,” she said. Mehbooba alleged that the BJP is trying to convert the entire country into Manipur and appealed to the opposition parties to stay united in order to counter these attempts. “Manipur is just a trailer, the film is yet to start. The BJP wants to turn the entire country into Manipur. My appeal to the opposition is to stay united if they want to save India. Do not get into number games,” she said.
The PDP President said no issues get resolved through the power of guns. “No issue is being sorted out with the power of gun”, she said and added every issue is settled on the basis of humanity. “I want to tell the BJP that in Lal Chowk in 1949 the late Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the national tricolour in presence of thousands of people and today you are coming to unfurl the flag amid unprecedented security arrangements and no Kashmiri stands there…this you call the achievement,” she claimed.
Mehbooba said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir joined hands with India just for their safeguard, their identity, religion and brotherhood will be safe “Unfortunately you (BJP) have destroyed everything just for your votes. Today BJP is going to the Supreme Court just to say that everything is alright in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said. “I want to tell the Supreme Court to come and see how many raids are being conducted by the security agencies of ED, NIA, SIA SUI everyday”, she said adding “the Judiciary must observe why it is happening here”. The PDP President said if there is everything alright in Kashmir why these raids are being conducted and why the youth of Kashmir are in jails.
She alleged youth raising their voices are being booked under Public Safety Act (PSA). “I want to tell the Judiciary to see after 2019 how many youth have been arrested and put in outside jails without any trial. Even parents are not being allowed to meet their kith and kin on one or the other pretext”, she alleged. The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that her father and late Union Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had offered a dialogue to separatists when he was Home Minister. She said the separatists refused as they were holding guns and had believed it would settle their issue which did not happen resulting in people continuously suffering. Mehbooba said New Delhi should understand that PDP is not a problem but part of the solution. “Neither have we told people one day Pakistan and another day India. We have told people that PDP is a party which believes in respectful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue,” she added.
