PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday took to the social media, Twitter, to issue a point-by-point retort to the former ally and BJP president Amit Shah’s allegations on her “misrule” of J&K.
“Many false charges levelled against us by our former allies. Our commitment to the Agenda of Alliance, co-authored by Ram Madhav and endorsed by senior leaders like (Union Home minister) Rajnath (Singh) ji never wavered. It is sad to see them disown their own initiative and label it a soft approach,” said Ms. Mufti, who released six-part tweets.
The tweets came just a day after Mr. Shah blew the poll bugle in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday from Jammu and accused Ms. Mufti of being soft on separatists and discriminatory to the Jammu and Ladakh regions.
“The allegations of discrimination against Jammu and Ladakh have no basis in reality. Yes, the Valley has been in turmoil for a long time and the floods of 2014 were a setback, therefore needed focused attention.
“Results on the ground are for all to see. If anything they should review the performance of their own ministers, who largely represented the Jammu region if there were any such concerns, none among them either at state or central level talked about it during the last 3 years,” she added.
The former chief minister also took potshots at the BJP over journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who was assassinated in Srinagar on June 14.
“After expressing concern about freedom of expression in J&K following Shujaat's murder, their MLA, notorious and even punished for his role in the aftermath of the unfortunate Kathua case still threatens journalists belonging to the Valley, so what are they going to do about him?” asked Ms. Mufti.
Hardening her stand on the Kathua rape and murder case, Ms. Mufti, whose government fell on June 19 after the BJP decided to pull out, said, “Not handing over the Rasana rape and murder case to CBI, getting the pro-rapist ministers removed and also issuing orders not to harass the Gujjar and Bakarwal community in the guise of anti encroachment drives were my duties as CM to provide a sense of security to both communities.”
In a bid corner the BJP, she said the status quo on Article 370, dialogue with Pakistan and Hurriyat were a part of Agenda of Alliance. “Encouraging dialogue, withdrawing cases against stonepelters and the unilateral ceasefire were much needed measures to restore confidence on the ground. This was recognized and endorsed by BJP,” she said.
Referring to Mr. Shah’s speech made in Jammu, PDP leader Abdul rehman Veeri said the BJP president “was careless while presenting the actual facts to the people during his speech”.
