Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said Jammu and Kashmir was being presented as a trophy at the upcoming G-20 meet “to give an impression that all is well here”.
“We all know how well Kashmir is since August 5, 2019. The arrests have gone up recently and the crackdown is on from several agencies, including the National Investigation Agency, State Investigation Agency etc. Shopkeepers are threatened to keep shops open. Schools are closed,” the former Chief Minister said.
“J&K has reached a point where demands for elections have taken a backseat. Our basic rights are denied. We have to fight for basic rights like right to expression, right to open and close shops and right to move around freely,” Ms. Mufti said.
She said the security forces’ paranoia ahead of the G-20 meet “only reflected the guilt of the wrongs they [the Centre] committed in J&K on August 5, 2019”.
Ms. Mufti welcomed the move to take action against those who assassinated Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq in 1990. “No one opposes the actions taken against those involved in the martyrdom of Mirwaiz Farooq and Kashmiri Pandits. However, the big question remains why those Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir for the past 30 years have shifted to Jammu,” she said.
Ms. Mufti praised the people of Karnataka and said they “proved prudent with their votes”. “I hope the voters in the country follow the same,” she added.
She accused the BJP of spreading hatred among communities. “We saw how students clashed in Jammu over The Kerala Story movie. They intend to spread hate,” she added.
