Anantnag, Apr 25: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged people to “bring Kashmir out of uncertainty, distress and tribulations,” while accusing the National Conference (NC)-led government of having “failed on every front.”
Addressing a workers’ convention here, the former chief minister invoked the PDP’s 2002 rise to power under her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
“In 2002, you pledged to change the atmosphere of uncertainty and gave my father only 16 seats and saw the results yourself. In only three years of his Chief Ministership, people got rid of repression, and all issues were addressed -from unemployment to opening of bus service and trade to Muzaffarabad to launching of schemes helping the apple industry grow, including market intervention, cold storage and high-density,” she said.
Contrasting that period with the Farooq Abdullah-led government (1996–2002), Mehbooba alleged that “despite 67 seats, there was more repression and even a ban on government jobs.”
“Even with Article 370 then, what did he do except securing a ministry for his son, Omar Abdullah, in the BJP-led government at the Centre?” she asked.
Targeting the present dispensation led by Omar Abdullah, she said, “You again gave them 50 seats. It has been one and a half years – this government has failed on every front. Youth is in depression due to unemployment. Daily wagers are waiting to be regularised.”
She urged party workers to give space to young candidates in upcoming Panchayat and urban local body elections. “Bring forward sincere and committed youth. Only they can understand the pain of fellow youth,” she said.
Criticising the NC for “sabotaging” PDP’s “people-friendly” measures, Mehbooba referred to a bill aimed at regularising eight Marlas of state land for poor families.
“We wanted to regularise the eight Marlas of state land where the poor have built houses and are living there for decades, but NC termed it a bill for land grabbers while BJP called it a land jihad bill,” she said. “NC brought a bill for hoteliers, which is good. But what about poor people? Hoteliers can go to courts – where will the poor go?”
She alleged that the NC would “regularise a few daily wagers, mostly their own, when elections are near and then seek votes on that.”
“Our bill to create more districts like Handwara and Uri was also not allowed to pass. We created new districts in our tenure and will do so again, once we get a chance, to ease sufferings of people,” she said.
Mehbooba also recalled that her father secured land from the Army’s Victor Force in Awantipora for the construction of AIIMS and for Kashmir University’s south campus at Anantnag in 2004.
“Union Territory or state, it depends on who is leading you and what is his will,” she said.
Calling for organisational strengthening, she asked party workers to “work hard to reach out to people” and “be resilient like the people of Iran,” referring to past struggles, including when Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was abrogated in 2019.
She also criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for not condemning alleged US and Israeli actions against Iran. “The Punjab Assembly passed a resolution condemning the attack on Iran, but our assembly couldn’t,” she said.
On law and order, Mehbooba condemned the booking of six Sopore youths under the Public Safety Act (PSA) following protests over an alleged molestation of a schoolgirl by a teacher.
“We can’t justify stone pelting and vandalism. But what will become of their lives? Filing FIRs means they will face difficulty in getting jobs and passport verification,” she said, adding that during her tenure she “revoked FIRs of around 12,000 youth” and ensured “minimum use of PSA.”
“Yes, bullets and pellets were fired when youth attacked army camps and torched police stations. God forbid, had I booked people under PSA, thousands would have been in misery today. Look at those ruling today,” she said.
Separately, PDP leader Iltija Mufti told reporters that the NC-led government “didn’t go for rationalisation of reservation” and “removed Urdu from revenue records.”
“The government failed to provide jobs or regularise daily wagers and is blaming the Lieutenant Governor (LG) for wrong decisions,” she said.
“Our party is going through a tough time and we urge workers to stand with the party,” she added.
Senior PDP leaders, including Abdul Rehman Veeri, Abdul Gafar Sofi, Mehboob Beg, Peer Mansoor, Muhamad Ashraf Malik, Dilawar Mir, Javed Ahmad Sheikh, Farooq Andrabi, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Shabir Siddiqi and Choudhary Talib Hussain, were present.
