“
In hathon ne hathyar chhodey hain, chalana nahin bhule
(These hands have just dropped the gun, not forgotten to use them),” said a young man at the top of his voice. And the crowd of around 2,000 people roared in approval.
The occasion was the youth convention of Jammu and Kashmir’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
When another speaker lambasted the alleged harassment and humiliation faced by Kashmiris at the hands of security agencies and people in other Indian states, even PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti could not help but join the gun rhetoric.
“The Kashmir issue is being discussed in national and international forums because of the sacrifices of the youth of Kashmir,” she said.
“Those who say that the gun had no role let me tell them, it highlighted the issue of Kashmir,” she said.
Senior PDP leader and former state finance minister Tariq Hamid Karra took the argument forward. “If the leadership at the centre is not using the army to crush the brutal Naxal movement, why is it being used in our state?” he asked.
Criticising the ban on pre-paid mobile connections, Karra said: “If the mobiles are not a threat to Indian security in the northeast, how are they a threat here? Why have they denied the right to 36 lakh pre-paid users when not more than 800 militants are present in the Valley?”
{{/usCountry}}Criticising the ban on pre-paid mobile connections, Karra said: “If the mobiles are not a threat to Indian security in the northeast, how are they a threat here? Why have they denied the right to 36 lakh pre-paid users when not more than 800 militants are present in the Valley?”
{{/usCountry}}