Elections no solution to Kashmir problem, hold dialogue with Pakistan: Mehbooba Mufti

Hitting out at the saffron party, Mehbooba Mufti said, "They are trying to get to me. They want to ban my party. Because I raise my voice. I am repeatedly told that Article 370 is being talked about since my release. But what can I do about that."

Mehbooba: Centre left no middle ground for people in Valley

PDP president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. (File photo)

PDP president and former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti Sunday accused the BJP of muzzling dissent and building an ecosystem in which “there is no place for democracy.”

Hitting out at the saffron party, Mehbooba Mufti said, “They are trying to get to me. They want to ban my party. Because I raise my voice. I am repeatedly told that Article 370 is being talked about since my release. But what can I do about that?”

The PDP president also said elections are no solution to the Kashmir problem and called for a dialogue between India and Pakistan to address the issue. “Election is no solution to the Kashmir problem. There should be a dialogue between the two countries. If we are talking to China, which has taken our land, why not with Pakistan? Is it about being a Muslim country because everything is communal now,” Mehbooba told reporters at her Gupkar residence.

Mufti’s comments come two days after she was barred from leaving her residence. As she was leaving for Pulwama to meet the family of PDP youth president and DDC candidate Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who has been arrested by the NIA, a police vehicle blocked the gate of her residence and she was told that she couldn’t go.

While Mufti said she has been put under house detention, the J&K Police denied this and said she has been “requested to postpone” the visit for security reasons. They later also barred her from addressing the media at her residence.

The former J&K CM also accused the BJP of branding “Muslims as Pakistanis, Sardars as Khalistani, social activists as Urban Naxals, and students as gangs and traitors.”

“I do not understand that if everyone is a terrorist then who is Hindustani in this country? Only Bharatiya Janata Party workers?” she said.

“After we decided to participate in the DDC Election, the degree of oppression has increased in Jammu & Kashmir. Candidates of PAGD are confined and are not allowed to go out for campaigning. How candidates will contest if they are not allowed to canvass?”, Mufti was quoted as saying by ANI.

“Until and unless the Kashmir issue is resolved, the problem will remain and persist. As long as they do not reinstate Article 370 the issue won’t be resolved. Ministers will come and go. Simply conducting elections is no solution to the problem,” she added.

Talking about J&K’s Roshni act, the PDP chief said that it was a scheme but it has been “made a scam”.

First uploaded on: 29-11-2020 at 15:21 IST

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