Mehbooba Mufti was released in August after more than a year in detention.
New Delhi:
Calling the local election results in Jammu and Kashmir as “very encouraging,” former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said today that she will not participate in any elections until special status under Article 370 is restored.
“As far as assembly votes are concerned, I will not hold any elections until Jammu and Kashmir’s own constitution is restored, until article 370 is restored,” Mehbooba Mufti told NDTV.
The former chief minister was answering a question about Gupkar’s alliance, which includes the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the potential fight, if state elections were to be held, over a leading ministerial candidate in between. of intense rivalries. .
“We have been rivals, but for the greater cause of J&K we can all unite. We are Kashmiris at the end of the day. We are not talking only about elections but the greater cause of restoring what was lost,” Mufti said. .
“As long as the assembly votes are held, we will sit down together and discuss (the position of chief minister). I am not in the race,” he said.
Ms Mufti also defended her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s decision to partner with the BJP in an alliance that collapsed prematurely.
“My father made a deal with the devil. Mufti did not join forces with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, but with the Prime Minister of India, to solve the problems of Kashmir. My father tried to involve the BJP through an alliance. Our agenda was the same and we entered the alliance on our terms. They agreed on everything, but after the fall of the government, they did what they wanted, “said Ms Mufti.
The Gupkar alliance won big in the first District Development Council (DDC) polls in 20 districts in J&K, the first election in the region since the center ended special status in August last year, turned the state into two Union Territories and detained scores from political leaders, including Ms Mufti and the leaders of the National Conference Farooq Abdullah and her son Omar Abdullah.
The seven-party alliance, along with Congress, has won in 13 districts. The BJP has won in six districts of Jammu.
“This is like a referendum on the elimination of Article 370, and the BJP itself continued to insist on the issue during the campaign. So the result shows that the people of J&K have rejected that narrative. Therefore, they have rejected the elimination of the Article 370, “he said. Mufti, who was released in August after more than a year in detention.
“We will appeal against the Center’s measure on Article 370 until our last breath,” he added.
The head of the PDP said there were many arrests during the elections. “I was detained myself four times. They told me I could move only after the voting started,” she said.
He commented that not only in Jammu and Kashmir, across the country the constitution was being superseded by the BJP agenda.
“They can arrest me at any time … There is a silence of cemeteries here. They have terrorized everyone in silence. What is happening in the country, multiply it by 100. That is what is happening in Kashmir,” he said.
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