PDP wanted National Character yesterday, talks of Regional Character today: NC
‘Mehbooba never spoke up as MP, neither for Muslims of India, nor for Kashmiris’
Srinagar: National Conference Spokesman Junaid Mattu has said that National Conference is not an opportunistic bandwagon of individuals but a political movement and institution that bases its politics on the representation of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, unlike Mufti Sayeed who ran away and chose to be rehabilitated as a Member of Parliament from a safe seat in Uttar Pradesh when he couldn’t garner more than a few hundred votes in Kashmir.
Mattu said that it is immensely funny that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter speaks about NC’s regional character given the fact that Mufti Sayeed, in all his political manifestations all his life has been one of the biggest conspirators against the regional identity of Jammu & Kashmir. Mufti’s ideological opposition to Article 370 is etched in the pages of history and PDP’s attempts to fool the people with such statements are ridiculous attempts to misrepresent history.
Mattu said that it was Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP that was busy using “special contacts” in Delhi to warm up to Narendra Modi. These multiple and frequent meetings are apparently facilitated by a senior journalist and a former Director of Intelligence and are being held to give a tactical shape to the BJP-PDP hidden alliance.
Asking Mehbooba Mufti to make up her mind, Junaid Mattu said that the same Mehbooba Mufti who was waxing eloquent about the need for a “regional character” in politics today had expressed her interest to speak on behalf of the “Muslims of India” a couple of days ago. Does Mehbooba Mufti want to represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir or is she deluded into aspiring to represent the Muslims of the entire country? Where was Mufti Sayeed’s concern for the Muslims of India when he was hand-in-glove with Jagmohan – who is widely considered to be an anti-Muslim, communal bigot? Why didn’t Mufti Sayeed raise his voice for the Muslims of India when Jagmohan destroyed the properties, shops, homes and lives of hundreds of Indian Muslims at Turkeman Gate?
Mattu said that it was a fact validated by archival record in the Lok Sabha that Mehbooba Mufti as an MP chose to never speak up in the parliament – neither for Kashmiris nor for the Muslims of this country. Her newfound realization about the need to espouse and advocate the cause of Indian Muslims is convenient and hypocritical. Why did she consciously abstain from doing so when she was in the Parliament?
Expressing amusement at Mehbooba Mufti’s dream to “change the rules of the game”, Junaid Mattu said that Mehbooba Mufti should know that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed changed the “rules of the game” in 1990 as the Home Minister of India by unleashing the bloodiest year of repression and injustice on supposedly his own people – just to play a “game” for his own benefit in New Delhi. If that is how PDP changes the “rules of the game”–we could only pray to the Almighty to save this nation from PDP’s “games” for all times to come.
Accusing Mehbooba Mufti of lying brazenly, Mattu said that National Conference and its MPs had forcefully and frequently spoken about the need for justice and reconciliation in Kashmir. Our MPs spoke publicly about our opposition to the death sentence handed out to Afzal Guru and we unconditionally expressed our strong protest over his execution. Before talking of Guru, Mehbooba Mufti should tell us how Muzaffar Baig ran away and ditched Maqbool Bhat even after receiving the retainer-ship and legal fees to defend him in the courts. (KNS)