PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said that she herself will not contest any elections until the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is restored. He also said that the central leadership should focus on ensuring that the heart-distance with the people of the erstwhile state ends.
The former Chief Minister stressed on the removal of orders passed on August 5, 2019, to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the era of oppression and oppression has to end. The erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state was bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, after the special status was abolished on August 5, 2019.
Mehbooba said, “I have clarified many times that I will not contest any election under the Union Territory, but at the same time my party is also aware of the fact that we will not allow anyone to take political space. We contested the Zilla Vikas Parishad elections last year. “Similarly, if the assembly elections are announced, the party will sit and discuss,” the PDP president said.
However, Mehbooba, who was part of a 14-member delegation that called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the way forward for Jammu and Kashmir, stressed that there was a need to take several confidence building measures. He said that these include providing relief to the tourism and business community of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions.
The PDP leader said, “The heart-distance with the people of Jammu and Kashmir has to be reduced and all strict orders passed for this will have to be stopped.” Nowadays there is an era of repression in Jammu and Kashmir. “Whoever has a complaint against an officer is put into preventive custody, exposing genuine sentiments on Twitter gets you jailed,” he questioned. Is this what is called democracy?
Mehbooba said that there is an urgent need to stop such actions and allow people to breathe freely. The 14-member delegation not only met the Prime Minister, but also Union Home Minister Amit Shah and senior bureaucrats. Other members of the delegation included former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Omar Abdullah.