Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that the decision by the election commission to allow non-locals to vote in assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is the last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy. She added that all parties should now look beyond elections and focus on the resolution of Kashmir issue.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar, Jammu and Kashmir is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders.
“We all parties will focus on the resolution of the Kashmir issue, only then the BJP will be compelled to change its dangerous and evil decision,” Mufti said at a press conference in Srinagar.
She has spoken to NC president Farooq Abdullah who heads the six-party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which seeks the restoration of Article 370 and statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, to call a meeting of all the parties to discuss the issue. “I have requested him to call an all-party meeting because this is about our existence,’’ she said.
She further said: “Those parties who were demanding elections should know it is no longer about election and we must focus on resolving the Kashmir issue.”
Hitting out at the BJP, Mufti said the BJP wants to get the 25 lakh voters from outside the backdoor to disenfranchise the people of Jammu and Kashmir and finish the mainstream.“They first did gerrymandering through delimitation and now they are doing this fraud. The person who headed the Delimitation Commission has been rewarded,’’ she said.
After disenfranchising the local population, they want some fascist local ruler and use him for their agenda. “With 25 lakh outside voters, the BJP wants to grab power and change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir,’’ she said. “This is not only detrimental for Muslim but also Dogras.”
Mufti said the country should understand the BJP is using the Nazi and Israeli policy in Kashmir . She said all the steps the BJP has taken after August 5, 2019, are unconstitutional as the revocation of Article 370 is subjudice before the SC.
She said the BJP was exploiting the pain of Kashmir Pandits for political gains. “Every drop of blood in Kashmir is used by the party for political gains,’’ she said. “Twenty soldiers were killed by China in Ladakh but the BJP kept quiet because that was not beneficial politically.”
Mufti appealed to the people of the country who fought for its freedom and gave sacrifices and not to those who begged pardon from the British to see what was happening. “I want to tell the people of the country that J&K as a Muslim majority state had joined hands with a free and secular India,’’ she said. “But after that several undemocratic steps including the arrest of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah took place and people lost faith in democracy.” She said the 1987 election was the culmination of such events because of which we are still suffering.
She said the country must understand that the problem of Kashmir cannot be resolved by applying Nazi policy. “The BJP will repeat the Kashmir model everywhere,’’ she said. “They will scrap the constitution and replace the national flag with the Bhagwa flag then you will feel sorry. They want to make a BJP rashtra.”
