Srinagar: National Conference working President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said Mehbooba Mufti’s report card reflected her “anti-people and anti-Kashmir policies” and had completely exposed her rhetoric while she was in the opposition.
Addressing a workers’ convention in Khanyar, Srinagar on Thursday, Omar Abdullah said the PDP-BJP Alliance that was forged solely for the goal of power had proved to be a disaster for the people of Kashmir.
“Mehbooba Mufti’s report – even in the brief time that she has been the Chief Minister – has broken all records of atrocities, treachery and ruthlessness. With nearly a hundred youth having been mowed down in the recent unrest and hundreds more blinded and handicapped, the same Mehbooba Mufti who sat on Dharnas against arrests in the opposition ended up imposing almost nine-hundred cases of Public Safety Acts (PSAs) on the youth. Nearly eleven thousand youth were arrested and night-raids were carried out to harass and intimidate the people”, Omar said while addressing a workers’ convention in Khanyar.
The NC working President said that besides the unprecedented scale and measure of atrocities committed against civilians in 2016, the PDP-BJP Government also launched an all out attack on Article 370 through the judicial route and left no stone unturned to give West Pakistan Refugees domicile certificates as an attempt to alter the demography of the State. “Ever since the PDP-BJP Alliance was forged, this State has been enveloped in an air of uncertainty and hopelessness. The PDP-BJP Alliance hasn’t been able to deliver on one single promise that it had made in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’. Development has come to a grinding halt and corruption has become a norm. This Government has failed to dispense even its most basic responsibilities”, the NC working president said.
“Mehbooba Mufti says she is seeking votes on the basis of her report-card and performance. One wonders if she is asking for votes for getting nearly a hundred youth killed or for blinding hundreds more. Is she asking for votes for arresting nearly eleven thousand youth or is she seeking votes for her attempts to create Sainik Colonies and Segregated Townships in Kashmir,” Omar questioned?
“Her alliance hasn’t left a single stone unturned in achieving its goal of abrogating Article 370 and robbing the State of Jammu and Kashmir of its special constitutional status. Are these Mehbooba Mufti’s achievements or the fact that she didn’t allow the people of Kashmir to offer Nimaz on Eid?”, Omar asked Mehbooba Mufti to answer.
Omar said PDP has not only “humiliated, persecuted and killed” the youth of Kashmir but has also mocked their pain and misery. “This is the same party that openly blamed the victims for getting killed and Mehbooba Mufti’s ‘tofees and milk’ taunt went on to rub salt on the wounds of grieving, mourning families. We clearly remember how in the All Parties Meeting in New Delhi, PDP Senior Leader and MP Muzaffar Baigh accused the youth of Kashmir for selling their conscience and lives for a pair of ‘shalwar kameez’ and asked the Central Government to desists from talking to the alienated youth”, he added.
Omar asked people to come out and vote in large numbers against the PDP-BJP-RSS alliance and send a strong message of resilience to those who were out to rob us of our rights and sense of dignity. “Not voting in these elections would amount to helping the PDP-BJP-RSS combine and would be a great disservice to our people. It is our collective responsibility to ensure the PDP-BJP-RSS alliance is defeated and the State’s interests and rights safeguarded”, Omar further stated.
