JAMMU: Mehbooba Mufti, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, has said that the “basic reason” for her to be Chief Minister with BJP’s support is to achieve reconciliation so that the Kashmir issue is resolved amicably.
“The day I feel that I have failed in this purpose, I will not take even a second to give up. I will instead leave politics and prefer to stay at home.’’ Mehbooba Mufti said in an interview to the Indian Express
Mehbooba said “I am myself convinced that we need to do something about it (the deaths). It won’t be put under carpet…”
Asked why she hadn’t moved on the key elements of the PDP agenda,Mehbooba said ” We stand for each and every word that is in our Agenda for Alliance. But there is also time factor, which is important. Can you talk about revocation of AFSPA at this point of time. That is why I am saying that whatever happened during the last five six months hasn’t helped. It has rather had a very adverse effect on everything including the government because we would have been at somewhere else at this time”.
Asked on Azadi movement after Burhan Wani’s killing, Mehooba said that she wasn’t denying that there is an issue which needs to be resolved and said “you need to create a conducive atmosphere and there wasn’t enough time given to me so that we could create a conducive atmosphere.’’
Mufti added that she was surprised by the course of events after Wani was killed and said “that boys would attend his funeral but “to such an extent, I had never thought. It was such a feeling that I can’t even express because I had never imagined that there is going to be a day when I am going to be at the helm of affairs and something like this can happen. It was a shock. I had never comprehended in my life that something like this is going to happen. I don’t have words.’’
“At times your mind goes blank.. you are doing everything, you are imposing curfew, you are seeing to it that people don’t come out. You are talking to security guys all the time, telling them please observe restraint. You are constantly telling them, please don’t do this, please don’t do that. And again something happens and people get injured and killed. It was helplessness at that point of time” Mufti said