Srinagar, May 17: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said elections to Jammu and Kashmir assembly were not her priority as her party would like to focus on the “restoration of basic rights” of the people of the union territory.
“Election is a distant issue. The priority should be the restoration of the basic rights of people, which are being denied. People should have the freedom of movement, freedom of expression,” she told the reporters here.
According to a party statement issued here, the former chief minister said if PDP had resources, they would have fought in the Supreme Court the cases of those Kashmiri detainees who are lodged in various jails of the country post-2019.
“Their families don’t have resources to mount a legal battle and their cases are rarely being heard,” she added.
Asked about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remarks on Article 370, Mehbooba said she cannot engage on the importance of Article 370 “with those who have destroyed the Constitution of the country”.
“What do I tell them? The BJP is not respecting the Constitution of the country. BJP has implemented its communal agenda. They don’t know what the significance of Article 370 is. It was a bridge between Jammu and Kashmir and the country which they have broken,” she alleged.
On the criticism from a certain foreign agency on holding a G20 meeting in Kashmir, the PDP president said “the government was trying to present a picture of normalcy in the valley to the international community”.
On the violence in a Jammu medical college over “The Kerala Story” movie, Mehbooba said, “Unfortunately, the BJP government is promoting such movies which spread hate and division in the society.”
On the arrest of two absconders in the Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq murder case, the PDP chief said action against those involved in killings including those of Kashmiri Pandits was welcome.
“No one is against taking action in such cases but one has to ask why are Kashmiri Pandits, who lived here through the worst of the times over the past 30 years, forced to flee to Jammu,” she asked.
