Says Mehbooba: In power, stopped BJP from acting against JeI, separatists

Srinagar, Mar 13: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to impose curbs on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and launch a crackdown on Hurriyat leaders during their coalition but her party reined them in.
Addressing a workers’ convention in Bandipora, Mehbooba said: “The coalition PDP-BJP was formed in very difficult circumstances and after many deliberations. From 2008 to 2017, our party has tried its best to work for the betterment of people and relieve them of oppression.”
“While in power, we revoked FIRs against thousands of detained youth whereas BJP had planned other nefarious designs which included a crackdown on JeI, Moulvis, NIA raids on separatists but I didn’t allow them to do I,” she said.
Mehbooba said that her party introduced “several peace-building measures but got a cold shoulder in return”.
“It was during the government of National Conference (NC)-Congress in 2009 when Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and NIA spread their web in Kashmir,” she said.
The PDP president said that she forced BJP to order ceasefire in Kashmir for at least one month but militants didn’t respond to it.
“Militants were not supportive when I forced BJP to have ceasefire for a month. I wanted to have a dialogue with separatist leaders and even a parliamentary committee visited Kashmir in 2016 but they shut their doors. Dineshwar Sharma was appointed as interlocutor to have dialogue with the separatist leadership but they didn’t support it,” she said.
She said that after Pulwama attack, the valley was about to become an epicentre for war but the mounting pressure on Delhi government eased the tension.
“The conditions have gone from bad to worse. Kashmiris have always been used as pawn during elections. In 2014, Afzal Guru was executed because elections were near and Congress wanted to show that it had something significant for the country. Now that elections are again drawing close, BJP has already started banning JeI, and arbitrary raids on separatists,” she said.