JAMMU: Winding up the discussion on the grants of her departments, the Chief Minister said she does not know the myths as she has spent 20 years to reach the level she is.
“For saving people, if I need to go to hell 100 times, I will not desist,” she reacted to Omar Abdullah’s comments in the first sitting. Omar had suggested her to opt for Tapasya as she is going towards the predictable end of the BJP’s hellfire.
“Omar Sahab left the assembly after telling me that I will go to hell,” Mufti said. “He talked of myths which I do not know, I have given 20 years of my life to (public life) to reach this level so I know what is on the ground.”
Omar in his speech invoked the Greek myth about Eros and Psyche to explain the power and money that BJPs central government have bestowed upon the PDP but taking away the party’s soul. It was in this backdrop that Omar suggested her trying to rediscover her party’s soul and avoid a predictable end of her story that goes through hell.
“For saving millions of people, if I one Mehbooba Mufti has to go to hell, I will willingly go 100 times,” Mehbooba said to the thump of desks by the treasury benches. “For getting millions of people of the state out of this crisis, one Mehbooba Mufti can go.” During her 50 minute speech, however, she dropped hints at her “helplessness” and “sins” committed “by mistake” and “unwillingly”.
Explaining the crisis that Kashmir is caught in, Ms Mufti said that the “complicated situation” is nothing new and there has not been any fast forward movement on the “issue”. She said the crisis is essentially the outcome of the “mainstream politics” that was increasingly involved with Maharaja in the accession. “So we have the role in tackling it.”
“We are not going to take a new decision but it is our duty to make the situation pleasant,” Mufti said. “Let me tell you when it comes to issues like Kashmir, there is no much difference between Congress and BJP, they think alike. They see Kashmir from the same parameters.”
Defending her “self-rule”, Ms Mufti said it is neither outlandish nor outside the constitution of India. “But it has the capacity to open up Kashmir to the rest of the world without compromising the sovereignty or the constitution,” she said. “Most of the things that are envisaged in the self-rule are already endorsed by various Working Groups.” She said Indian constitution has the capacity to accommodate all things like joint consultative mechanism, trade, and travel. “If it is not possible to get the two Kashmiris together, what is the harm in erasing the walls in between,” she said.
The Chief Minister linked Kashmir’s strategic location to its miseries. “the US is threatening Pakistan daily but is unable to do anything because it is strategically orated,” Ms Mufti said. “That is our case as well and why not use our geography to open up. Why do not we see we are the main gate to Central Asia?”
Chief Minister said the situation is not there for PDP alone. “It is for all of us,” she said. “We can not change history but we can manage the geography well.”
Ms Mufti hit hard the TV saying they get “two bad mouthed people” on their screen who abuse each other. “How can anybody say: How come their checks are red?” Ms Mufti said. “They create a lot of hatred and that is a key factor.”
Insisting that there is no alternative to talks, Ms Mufti said after every war there have been talks.
AFSPA
The Chief Minister said while the entire politics of the state wants the AFSPA to go, the demand for the prevailing situation is “not realistic”. The situation, he said, improves and security footprints reduce. “In last many years, we had removed various security caps but in 2016 and 2017, I got delegations seeking these camps back because, you know, it is a vicious circle. Once a camp is there, there is no militant movement and there are fewer crackdowns.”
She reasserted the change on the ground: “Earlier, people were fleeing from many villages when there was a crackdown and now they all assemble to attack the security forces.”
Terming army the “most disciplined force”, Ms Mufti said there could be black-sheep here and there. “We all have reached here because of the immense sacrifices of the police,” Ms Mufti said. In Shopian killing case, she said, the army has not filed a counter FIR, “but its version of the story” that is part of the FIR we already had registered.”
Stone Pelters
Insisting that her government is making efforts to reach out to the stone pelters, Ms Mufti refused it was done “on Delhi directions”. In 2016, the policy was drafted but then in July, the situation changed. “The policy was delayed and the fact is that Delhi and state government are on the same page,” Ms Mufti said.
Without referring to the Joint Resistance Leadership, Ms Mufti said there are people sponsoring “Idhar Chaloo, Udha Chaloo” and have made mosques at the epicentre. She said that the amnesty is aimed at watching whether these young men will stay away from stone pelting. She said it will be extended to more people.
“Earlier stones would come and bullets would go,” Ms Mufti said. “The pellets were seen as less injurious but tragically they also kill.” While she insisted that there was a requirement of putting the balm on the pounds of the people, she was still unable to understand how will mobs of hundreds of youth be tackled when they resort to stone pelting. “I am speaking my helplessness,” she said.
