The Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti said on Sunday that “national interests have been of paramount importance for both Congress and BJP when it comes to Kashmir”.
Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a party function,Mehbooba said “just like scrapping Article 370 has been a major poll plank ofthe BJP, the Congress has also played the Kashmir card for electoral gains inthe past”.
“It was GhulamNabi Azad who transferred land to AmarnathShrine Board in 2008 to please the party’s vote bank in Jammu,” she alleged.
“Later, it was Congress-led government which executedMuhammad Afzal Guru out of turn, just when the national elections were roundthe corner,” Mehbooba said.
She claimed that only the regional parties like the PDP havean “agenda” to “bring the people out of morass”.
Urging people to vote for her in the upcoming parliamentelections—she is contesting from Anatnang—Mehbooba said that people of southernKashmir have been “wise enough in choosing their representatives”.
Earlier, addressing series of election meetings inKapran-Dooru and Larnoo-Kokernag areas of the Anantnag parliamentaryconstituency, which is going to polls on Tuesday, the PDP President said:”People of Kashmir would still have been in bonded labour if I would not haverisen to the occasion two decades back”.
“If I would not have worked on the ground to save Kashmirisfrom the oppression of the Army and Task Force, you would still have been inbonded labour,” Mehbooba said, reacting to those who question her party’s rulein Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba claimed that it was because of the efforts of herfather Mufti Muhammad Sayeed that revocation of POTA (Prevention of TerrorismAct), disbanding of Ikhwan and start of cross-LoC travel and trade were madepossible.
“Mufti Sayeed pursued pro-people policies and releasedpolitical prisoners like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who were languishing in jailsoutside the state,” Mehbooba said.
“In the 2014 elections, my father had sought 40 seats fromyou, but you only gave him 28, while the BJP got 25. This left him with nooption than to join hands with the BJP for the larger interests of the people.But Prime Minster NarendraModi did not emulate AtalBihari Vajpayee and let usdown,” she said.
“We ensured rehabilitation of Gujjar community in Jammuregion, sacked two BJP ministers for their alleged role in Rasana rape case andalso ensured safeguarding Articles 370 and 35 A,” the PDP president said.