Bhat Yasir
The former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir Monday addressing a press conference at her residence in Srinagar called for an investigation into the killing of Shoaib Ahmed Ganie and Shahid Gani, residents of Turkwangam and Pandoshan areas in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
“I do not know if Shoaib was killed in crossfire as locals claim, but even if it was, it is the failure of the forces for being unable to protect the lives of civilians,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti said that the BJP Government of using an “iron-fist” policy in Kashmir stating that the Policy is distancing the people of the region from New Delhi.
Accusing the BJP Government of choking voices in Jammu Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said, “The Government of India deems speaking up as a crime and anyone who commits this crime is put behind the bars. Our Journalists are languishing behind the bars merely because they spoke up and tried to show the real picture on the ground.”
She said that the Central Government does not allow the political leaders in Jammu Kashmir to visit the families of Kashmiri Pandits or visit the bereaved families of Kashmiris. “I wanted to visit the family of Rahul Bhatt, but time and again the administration puts me under house arrest,” Mehbooba Mufti, the PDP president said.
The PDP president said no Kashmiri pandit was killed during 2008, 2010, and 2016 Civilian agitations in the Kashmir. “It is the hate propaganda that BJP has been spreading that has created animosity in the entire country. This has to immediately stop,” she said. She said that some films have created hatred and unfortunately the Prime Minister himself promoted the film.
She accused the mainstream media of India of polarizing the society on religious lines. “What is unfortunate is that hate is sold easily and one of the main factors responsible for the growing hatred is India’s mainstream media. If Indian Muslims cannot respond to what is being done to them, one can expect reaction in Jammu Kashmir, as it is the only Muslim majority state of India,” Mehbooba Mufti said.
She said that the Government of India has failed to deliver on its promises. “They have failed to deliver on economy, food security, employment, poverty, but such issues do not find any mention in the mainstream narratives, because BJP cleverly uses deviations such as issues of religious identities. These issues are used to keep us deviated from the real issues,” She said.
Saying that the right-wing is ignorant, the former Chief Minister said that the Right-wing wants to take down India’s economy further. “They (Right-wing) want to shut down everything built by Mughals and other Muslims without knowing that more than half of the tourists come to visit Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar and other monuments constructed by Muslims.”