Mehbooba slams Omar for ruling out Article 370 return

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah “ruling out” the reinstatement of Article 370 was like pouring acid on the hopes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, trying to instil a sense of defeat among them.

“Stating that (Article) 370 will not return is like throwing acid on the hopes of the people of J&K, which should not be done. He (Abdullah) wants to instil a sense of defeat among people, which I don’t think any leader should do. It is not right,” Mehbooba told reporters when asked about the issue.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Abdullah said, “Some people tell us to talk about (restoration of) Article 370 and J&K’s special status first... I want to ask them, what does Article 370 or 371 mean without Statehood?”

He argued that clubbing the demand for Statehood with the restoration of Article 370 only gave the BJP-led Centre an excuse to delay restoring Statehood to J&K.

“To expect the BJP Government to restore Article 370 will be foolishness. What we can get from this Government is the foundation for restoring special status,” Abdullah said.

Asked about her views on Abdullah’s remarks, Mehbooba said, “The Kashmir issue is alive even today, and it has to be resolved.”

“Articles 370 and 35A should be a part of it (the resolution). Statehood is a part of what happened to us in 2019. It is like cutting off someone’s feet and then saying, since the feet are gone, give me the shoes. I feel this is unfair to the people of J&K and to his (Abdullah’s) own party (National Conference), which made grand promises ranging from plebiscite to autonomy. I think it is unfair,” she said.

The former J&K chief minister also accused the National Conference (NC) of trying to normalise the post-2019 situation in J&K.

“The NC has always normalised such situations. When the late (NC founder) Sheikh Abdullah signed the 1975 accord, there were posts of prime minister and ‘Sadar-e-Riyasat’. But he compromised on both to become the chief minister, thereby normalising all the erosions that took place until then.

“Similarly, looking at Omar Abdullah’s current activities going to the Jantar Mantar and talking only about Statehood, avoiding talking about Article 370 and now claiming that its restoration is impossible, I believe they are normalising what was done to J&K in 2019. They are normalising the situation, just like the BJP,” Mehbooba said.

The PDP chief also questioned the NC over including the restoration of special status (granted under Article 370 to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir) in its election manifesto ahead of the 2024 J&K polls.

“Why did they include it in their manifesto in the first place? Why did they mention it repeatedly in their speeches?” she asked.

Referring to the reopening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road under her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s chief ministership in 2005, Mehbooba said the NC spent 50 years telling people that it would open the Rawalpindi Road, which it didn’t.

“When Mufti Mohammad Sayeed installed those boards, 14 of our workers and security personnel were martyred in 2004. In 2005, the Muzaffarabad route was opened. Until then, they used to say he was selling false dreams,” she said.

The PDP chief added that similarly, the restoration of Article 370 or the “resolution” of the Kashmir issue are not false dreams, but reality.

“If not today, then tomorrow. Just as the people of Ladakh united and the Central Government was compelled to grant them Article 371 to secure their jobs and land, we can also compel the Centre to talk to us and get something out of them,” she said.

However, Abdullah’s focus remains solely on the PDP, rather than running the Government, she claimed.

“We have an agenda, and we speak around the vision that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had. It saddens me that a party with 50 MLAs, founded by figures like the late Sheikh (Abdullah) Sahib or Farooq (Abdullah) Sahib, is today reducing the entire issue of J&K into a small vessel. They want to imply that the issue of J&K is merely about Statehood,” she said.

Stressing that J&K is a sensitive State, Mehbooba said, “People have been fighting for their right to self-determination from 1947 until today. When the chief minister and his Government with such a brute majority claim that every problem in J&K will be resolved through Statehood, I feel that is an injustice to people.”

Referring to her letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah on his invitation to join its protest in Delhi on Monday, Mehbooba said she requested the NC to call an all-party meeting to evolve a consensus.

“Had a consensus evolved on going to Delhi for Statehood, we could have made that decision together. I feel the mandate given by the people of J&K to Omar Abdullah was not just for Statehood; it was given to address larger issues and resolve major hardships. We will keep reminding Omar Abdullah of this. He may get angry, but we will continue to remind him,” the PDP chief said.

Omar Abdullah and the top NC leadership were in Delhi on Monday to stage a protest at the Jantar Mantar demanding restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

However, police stopped them from moving towards the protest venue due to the heavy security deployment for the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) ‘Sansad Chalo’ march.