Srinagar, Oct 26 (HS): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said Jammu and Kashmir is a human issue and appealed to the Centre to try to resolve it through humanity, democracy and Kashmiriyat, as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had envisioned.

She was speaking at a party gathering in Srinagar on the occasion of Accession Day, and to reporters. Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with India on October 26, 1947. Mehbooba Mufti held a copy of the Instrument of Accession in her hand during the address.

“Try, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee thought, that this is a human issue. Humanity has to be used here, democracy has to be used, Kashmiriyat has to be used,” she said. She said that if the Centre wants this to go on in the same manner, there are eight lakh troops here today and it will bring sixteen lakh.

Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the BJP mistakes silence for peace. “The BJP considers this silence to be peace and normalcy. This is not normalcy, it is terror, which the whole country is now tasting,” she said. She said people across the country are now watching how a hard-line approach is used, which the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been seeing for years.

She said Jammu and Kashmir is talked about everywhere, but not where and with whom it should be talked about. According to her, talks here take place through the NIA, the CBI and other agencies, the UAPA and curfews. Referring to the large number of police deployed outside the gathering, she said so many police had been put in place because only fifty or a hundred people had gathered.

Mehbooba Mufti said that after what was done to Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and the fulfilment of the Hindutva agenda, hardships and restrictions have only increased. She said she has no hope from the BJP, as it tore to shreds the Constitution that had granted rights to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. She said, however, that she has hope from the people of the country, who have seen a glimpse of how the people of Jammu and Kashmir are treated. She alleged that young people from Jammu and Kashmir are lodged in jails inside and outside the Union Territory with no one to look after them.

Referring to the history of the accession, she said Pakistan made a big mistake by sending tribesmen into Kashmir, which was an attack on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. According to her, the people here wanted to decide for themselves after careful thought, as a result of which Maharaja Hari Singh approached the Government of India, and the Muslim-majority state decided to join hands with India. She said the Indian leadership of the time believed that the country would remain secular, and that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah confirmed the accession. She said Jammu and Kashmir received some constitutional guarantees, under which its land and jobs would remain protected.

She said Jawaharlal Nehru had spoken of making Kashmir a model window, but later relations between Sheikh Abdullah and the central leadership deteriorated, Sheikh Abdullah became disenchanted and demanded a plebiscite for 22 years, because of which the people here came to be viewed with suspicion by India. She claimed that Jammu and Kashmir today is the most militarised region in the world, with seven to eight lakh troops deployed.

She said that at the recent session of the UN General Assembly, the Turkish president and, as is traditional, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also mentioned Kashmir, while the Government of India said, as usual, that it is an integral part. She said Jammu and Kashmir will be mentioned in the elections in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Himachal and Punjab as well.

Mehbooba Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir acceded to an India that was the India of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar, who gave rights to all. “This is not a piece of paper. The popular leaders of the time, the Maharaja and your leadership, which won India its independence, confirmed it,” she said.

She added: “Today, we value our bond with a great country, but this great country should also remember on what conditions, in what circumstances and with what sentiments this bond was formed.”

She appealed to the Centre to stop ‘oppression’ of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “Do not drag it by the arm; instead, hold its hand and teach it to walk with you,” she said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat