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Article 370 will be restored, says Mehbooba Mufti on Azad remark
Mufti was reacting to remarks made by Azad at a rally on on Sunday where he said removal of article 370 required a two-thirds majority in Parliament which he did not expect the Congress to get
JAMMU: Reacting to veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s remarks on Article 370 in his Baramulla rally, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said, “it was his personal opinion but there are voices in J&K who firmly believe that it will be reinstated and she was one of them.”
“Gandhi ji, Pt Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Subhash Chander Bose, Bhagat Singh and other freedom fighters fought against British rule at a time when there was disappointment among the people… hopelessness among them that they couldn’t fight them (British). Similarly, I feel and believe that removing Article 370 has complicated the matter further,” she told reporters outside party headquarters here.
“The way Congress fought against British rule and ended their atrocities. Similarly, there are many such voices in J&K, which firmly believe that we will not only reinstate Article 370 but also resolve this dispute,” she added.
The PDP president further said, “Had you ever thought that LK Advani would shake hands with Yasin Malik, who is presently in Tihar jail and PM (Narendra) Modi would go to Pakistan to attend the wedding of Nawaz Sharif’s grand-daughter? Had anyone ever thought that Muzaffarabad road would be opened? Therefore, it depends upon thinking. We have positive thinking and we will not only fight against BJP atrocities but also bring an end to them and resolve the Kashmir dispute. Article 370 will also be reinstated. This is my opinion. Azad Sahib and BJP may have different opinions, what can I say about them?”
PDP chief meets various deputations
JAMMU: Lambasting the administration for allegedly compounding issues of the general masses with red tape and inertia, Mehbooba Mufti said that “Jammu and Kashmir today stands at a crossroads where citizens have neither any right nor a forum to project their grievances”.
“While the public anger is simmering, the LG administration is busy showcasing its phoney achievements in order to justify what the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has done with Jammu and Kashmir”, Mehbooba said while interacting with various deputations which called her here on the second day of her tour to Jammu.
Talking to a deputation of Kashmiri migrant employees, she said that while on the one hand the BJP and its run administration were weaponizing the pain of suffering of the community to garner support for its political objectives, their issues and grievances are being ignored.
“It’s unfortunate that the community faced one of the worst times after migration during the last few years right under the rule of those who criminalised their sufferings and politicised their pain in furtherance of their own communal agenda”, she said adding that the administration has miserably failed to instil a sense of security among the migrant community.
She said that the issues of Kashmiri migrants need companionate and humanitarian but instead an arm-twisting approach is being adopted to muzzle their voice.
