Ongoing polls an opportunity to voice rejection of Aug 5 decision: Mehbooba

Srinagar, May 13: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Monday termed the ongoing polls as an opportunity for people to express their held emotions and convey to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led dispensation that whatever happened on August 5, 2019, is unacceptable and must be rolled back at all costs.
Addressing poll rallies in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Mehbooba said the PDP had been a deterrent to the abrogation of Article 370. She pointed out that while efforts to break her party were made, Article 370 was ultimately abrogated.
Reflecting on the party’s history, she said when the PDP first formed the government in 2002, it put an end to the Ikhwan rule in Kashmir. However, she lamented the emergence of a “new breed” of Ikhwanis in the region, accusing them of intimidation tactics against PDP workers and families of incarcerated youth.
Mehbooba stressed that their fight was not against any particular party or for personal gain but against the decision made on August 5, 2019.
She highlighted the “hardships” faced by locals in Jammu and Ladakh, alleging that their resources were being taken away and businesses affected. “Our fight is not against any party, it is not for the chair or any post either. It is about the decision taken on August 5, 2019. Go to Jammu and see the hardships being faced by the locals there. They have no work. Their businesses are being taken away. Similar is the situation in Ladakh. The Kashmir valley has been turned into an open-air prison. A youth is taken into custody for no reason,” she said.
Mufti criticised the National Conference (NC) for its silence on issues concerning Article 370 during its parliamentary tenure and reiterated the PDP’s stance against the decision made in 2019.
“NC was there in the parliament for five years when Article 370 was abrogated. Not even in a single instance did they raise the issue. The NC didn’t ask why thousands of our youth are being jailed, why common people are being hounded. There were no MLAs and no popular government in place in Jammu and Kashmir. The parliament members were duty-bound to raise these issues. They unfortunately preferred to remain silent,” she said.
The former chief minister said since Article 370 was removed, it was only the PDP that took to the streets against each and every “high-handedness”. “Our resources are being taken away. That is why I say the ongoing elections transcend party politics. The people have to decide now,” she said.
Mehbooba expressed confidence in the PDP’s candidates, particularly in Srinagar, despite what she described as “coercive tactics employed by the BJP’s proxies”.
“We are confident that our Srinagar candidate Waheed ur Rahman Parra will win. It is a message from the PDP to the BJP-led dispensation that you incarcerate our youth and we, by exercising our franchise, will send the same youth to the parliament so that they can represent thousands like them and become the voice of the voiceless,” she said.
The party’s candidate for the Baramulla constituency, Fayaz Ahmad Mir while addressing people said that it was the PDP that strived for the creation of PAGD so that a unanimous voice could go out and oppression done against the people of Jammu and Kashmir could be opposed unitedly. “However, NC buckled under the pressure as it was sent a warning note to break the PAGD. It did so by declaring the candidates without any deliberations,” he said.