Srinagar, July 22 (KNO): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said the ruling National Conference (NC) is “normalising” the constitutional changes of August 5, 2019 by reducing Jammu and Kashmir’s political discourse to the demand for statehood alone.
She said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should have convened an all-party meeting before approaching the Centre on the issue.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Mehbooba, per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said the people’s mandate was not confined to the restoration of statehood but also to addressing the larger political issues confronting Jammu and Kashmir.
“The mandate of the people is not only for statehood. It is for resolving the larger political issues as well. Before going to Delhi, the Chief Minister should had convened an all-party meeting so that a united voice of Jammu and Kashmir was presented before the Centre,” she said.
The former chief minister alleged that by focusing only on statehood and distancing itself from its promises on Article 370 and other constitutional safeguards, the National Conference was helping ‘normalise’ the developments of August 5, 2019.
She questioned the NC’s stand on Article 370, asking why the party had included its restoration in its election manifesto and repeatedly raised the issue during the Assembly polls if it now believed it could not be achieved.
“People voted with the hope that these promises would be pursued. Saying they cannot be fulfilled amounts to crushing those aspirations,” she said.
Mehbooba said the restoration of constitutional safeguards and a political resolution of the Kashmir issue should not be dismissed as impossible, recalling that even the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road was once considered unachievable before it eventually became a reality.
She said the PDP would continue to pursue dialogue and constitutional measures to safeguard the rights and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba further said the party had historically “normalised” difficult political situations and was once again doing the same by restricting its campaign to statehood.
On the proposed July 23 protest in Delhi, she said the PDP had not yet taken a decision on whether it would participate.—(KNO)