Srinagar: National Conference on Monday said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s statement that Kashmir had “seen worse” was an alarming sign of her complete disconnect from reality and goes on to prove how she is living in denial.
In a statement issued to KNS, NC State Spokesperson Junaid Mattu said the Chief Minister should remember that this is the first time in 27 years that an election had to be cancelled in the State and the turnout has plummeted to 7 percent. “If this isn’t the rock bottom for the State in the CM’s eyes, wonder how else the situation could be any worse at this juncture for her to wake up and act”, the NC Spokesperson said.
“Kashmir is yet again witnessing military sieges of entire clusters of villages, the security forces are conducting door-to-door search operations and we are back to the grim days of crackdowns which started during the early 90s. Incidents of violence have increased steeply and the extraordinary spurt in number of local youth joining militant organizations speaks volumes about the state of affairs in Kashmir”, the NC Spokesperson added.
NC Spokesperson said Mehbooba Mufti seems to have forgotten the terrible 2016 agitation when nearly a hundred lives were lost and hundreds of young children partially or fully blinded. “Not only did nearly a hundred civilians lose their lives, hundreds more lost their eyesight in what is now internationally recognized as a brutal and barbaric response of the PDP-BJP Government to the deep-rooted anger and alienation in Kashmir that has been compounded by PDP’s Faustian bargain with the BJP and the RSS”, the statement read.
“The PDP-BJP Alliance has risked the very sustainability and survival of electoral democracy in the State and yet the Chief Minister prefers to pat her own back and bury her head in the sand”, the Spokesperson said.
“For the first time in the history of turmoil in the State, people in Kashmir were prevented from attending Eid prayers and locked in their homes in what is the most auspicious occasion for Muslims. Never before have our Dargahs and Masjids been locked down by the Police and the Administration. If this isn’t bad enough for the Chief Minister, she should try to understand the gravity of the situation reflected by the fact that even young school girls and college students are out on the roads today – alienated more than ever before because of her inability to govern and create an atmosphere of hope in the State”, the NC Spokesperson said.
The NC Spokesperson also highlighted unprecedented attacks on Gujjar nomads and other minorities in parts of the State by violent fringe organizations directly or indirectly affiliated to the BJP and the RSS. “When have Gujjar nomadic families been attacked and brutally beaten by cow vigilantes in the last more than two decades as the Police stood and watched as helpless spectators? When was a truck driver burnt alive by communal criminals in the last more than twenty years? There are a hundred different, marked features of the present situation in the State which make it categorically clear that the State is in the midst of chaos, uncertainty and unprecedented turmoil – whether the CM accepts this or not is irrelevant”, the NC Spokesperson further added.
“Rather than undermining the gravity of the situation we would suggest the Chief Minister acknowledges her failure in dealing with the situation in Kashmir and also admits to her complicity and connivance in pushing her own people to the wall – especially the youth of the State who have been persecuted and suppressed in every possible way and manner. The Chief Minister should stop writing her own APRs for herself and recognize how the situation is deteriorating with every passing day and how her Government stands rejected by the people”, the NC Spokesperson said.
