SRINAGAR: In a scathing attack on the Centre, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked if the government can negotiate with China in spite of the latter “occupying 1,000 km” in Ladakh, why it does not engage with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Attacking the BJP leadership at the Centre, Mehbooba claimed that instead of keeping additional forces to silence every voice of sanity in Kashmir, the strength and the troops should be used in Ladakh.
She was quoted as saying, “Beijing captured 1,000 sq ft area of Indian land and killed 20 jawans, but they can’t even say a word against China. China is building infrastructure there. Construction of barracks is going on but no minister dares to speak against China”.
Mehbooba, after reaching Jammu amid protests by BJP workers, said that the government should allow the people of Jammu and Kashmir to express them freely and not curtail their freedom. “If you claim everything is fine and normal, allow us to contact people, why are you scared of us. You don’t allow us to protest and silence us using police and troopers,” she said during her address to party workers in Jammu.
The PDP leader decided to address the party workers as she faced angry protests at Jammu airport on her tricolour remarks. Mehbooba wanted to convey to the BJP leadership in Jammu that she would delink all the controversies from the recent land amendments.
Attacking the BJP, she said that the party has reduced democracy on paper alone as people of Jammu and Kashmir are being silenced by brute force. She said that the ultimate source of power is the people of Jammu and Kashmir and one cannot take decisions without taking them into confidence.
Asking the people of Jammu not to fall prey to the BJP propaganda, she said that any person or organisation being anti-BJP does not mean that it is anti-national. She appealed to the people of Jammu to wake from the slumber and fight for the rights snatched by New Delhi illegally and unconstitutionally.