Former chief minister and PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti admitted that the situation was never normal during her tenure in Jammu & Kashmir and said that unlike other states, Jammu & Kashmir is the only place where the schools are being closed, the youth have been put behind the bars and roads have been damaged in view of the G-20 meeting.
Talking exclusively with Asian News Hub (ANH), Mehbooba Mufti said that the G-20 meetings are being held in many states, but J&K is the only place where the youth have been arrested, schools have been closed, roads have been damaged, the traditional stone ‘Divar’ was replaced.
“BJP itself knows that it has done a big mistake in 2019, but to hide its failure, J&K is being used as a trophy to show the world that the situation here is normal,” she said, adding that there was equally disturbing situation during PDP rule in J&K.
“We never said the situation was normal in our tenure, but it is being claimed that the situation is normal after 2019, if the situation is normal then why the schools are being closed. Even on the Independence day, the shopkeepers were threatened not to shut their shops while the shopkeepers in others states observed holiday,” PDP chief said.
About the arrests during her tenure, she said she also withdrew FIRs against 11,000 youth despite the stone pelting at a large scale.
When asked that the killings are stopped, she said, “Do you think that the people are alive. “Death with dignity is better than insulting life. The people in Kashmir were fighting for the resolution of Kashmir issue,” she said.
However, she didn’t reply to the statements of BJP leaders, saying that it is the party who caused a dent to the constitution and BJP is running the country according to the agenda of their party.
About recruitments, she said that all the recruitment processes have been cancelled with a proper plan to keep the citizens of J&K away from the jobs and accommodate the people from outside states.
Asked the statements about dynasty rule in J&K for the last 70 years, she said that PDP has ruled over the state for five years and 10 months, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to call it a dynasty rule. “However, during our rule, we provided jobs to many youth. They were accommodated in different schemes, Rehbar-e-Taleem, Rehbar-e-Khel and others while several self help groups were also formed,” she said.
There was no complaint from anyone in the recruitment process during their rule, she said.
About the foreign and other investments in J&K, she said that the investment during her rule in 2017-2018, the investments were high here compared to post abrogation of Article 370, adding that J&K in the development index was good enough before 2019, but now the graph is declining.
“There is nothing like first time anything is taking place in J&K. Such events and episodes have been witnessed in the past as well,” she said, adding that all the major projects like Zojilla tunnel and others have been given by the UPA-I and UPA-II.
“The claims are being made nothing was done in the past 70 years. I want to ask that how was J&K at the top in seven decades,” Mehbooba said.
The former chief minister also stated that for development, peace is imperative and until the issue is not resolved the development is not possible.
Asked about here statement ‘Toffee and milk’ during her tenure, she said that it was aimed to save the youth. “It was a mother, who made this statement,” she said.
