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| Mehbooba's poll planks in Kashmir | | Election 2019 | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 31: Former BJP-made CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has made public the planks on which she and her party will contest the scheduled Lok Sabha elections in the Kashmir Valley. She has not fielded any candidate in Jammu and it is also not clear if she would field candidate for the lone Ladakh seat.
Making her poll planks public, Mehbooba Mufti has said that her whole objective to consolidate secular votes and highlight the dangers of the tough stance adopted by the Centre against separatists.
Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat said: "Her party's decision to favour a consolidation of secular votes and the dangers of the tough stance adopted by the Centre (Narendra Modi Government) against the separatists. Our only intention is that the secular vote is not divided in J&K. The division should not benefit the party (BJP) causing a lot of distrust and disturbance in the State. If we put up candidates in Jammu, it will have an impact".
"There are larger issues facing J&K this time. There is a threat to Article 35A. The situation is grave. We need a voice in Parliament…For the record, it was former chief minister Omar Abdullah who introduced the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in J&K in 2009 when the Congress was in power at the Centre. Ideally, it (the NIA) should not be there. If I come to power I will look for ways and means to lift the ban on JeI and JKLF, which was imposed by the government in March," she also said while explaining her whole election agenda.
"We were able to safeguard Article 370. We defended 35A, withdrew FIRs against thousands of youth, Dineshwar Sharma was appointed an interlocutor and we also persuaded the BJP for a ceasefire. Today, it seems unimaginable that the BJP will go for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, there was no positive response from the other side. The Hurriyat did not respond to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's dialogue offer. I did my best in the situation I was caught in," she said.
She further said that her agenda also includes the Indo-Pak relations and she would work to ensure that there were talks between India and Pakistan, on the one hand, and New Delhi and Srinagar (Hurriyat), on the other.
"The fact also remains that New Delhi can't have a confrontation with Pakistan and think of a smooth sailing in J&K when it comes to talks with the Hurriyat. It's all connected There has to be a parallel dialogue between India and Pakistan and New Delhi and Srinagar. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan and later had dialogue with the Hurriyat. The model did work," she was quoted as saying.
Mehbooba Mufti also made it loud and clear that her party favoured no action against Hurriyat operatives. I as CM did not allow the Centre to crack down on (Hurriyat leaders) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq or Syed Ali Geelani. I opposed raiding the house of Mr. Geelani. The NIA wanted to crack down on Jamaat also, which I refused. I put the point across that if there are ideological differences between the two sides that doesn't mean you are going to clamp down on each and everyone and put them in jail. The NIA had stepped in because some Hurriyat leaders were caught in a TV sting operation bragging about taking money and doing things," she said. The PDP chief also spoke on the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. "If there is a consensus in the Ladakh region, especially within the Imama Khomenie Memorial Trust-Kargil and the Islamia School, over an Independent candidate, the PDP may think of supporting him," she was quoted as saying. |
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