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| Mehbooba says decide between 800 kanals and Kashmir | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Aug 24
With Valley’s political space being almost grabbed by the separatists and Peoples Democratic Party finding itself isolated in the mainstream discourse, its president Mehbooba Mufti today toughened the stand asking Government of India to decide between 800 kanals of land or Kashmir.
Mehbooba apparently wanted to convey that if 800 kanals of land was restored to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board that would be at the cost of Kashmir Valley’s association with the Indian Union. Sources said that such an unpleasant statement came from Mehbooba after she was denied an opportunity of meeting with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi where she is camping for a meeting with top national leaders for discussion in the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba said her party will not support any unilateral agreement reached between the group spearheading the Amarnath agitation and the Jammu and Kashmir government and accused the Hurriyat Conference of hijacking the party's agenda of opening of the road to Muzzafarabad.
Welcoming the talks between Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti (SASS) and a four-member panel appointed by the Governor to resolve the Amarnath land row, Mufti said at the same time the solution needs to be vetted by the people of Kashmir.
"We will not support any unilateral agreement. People have to understand what they want. Do they want the shrine board of Jammu and Kashmir and the Amarnath yatra," Mufti told reporters here.
Is the opening of trade route anti-national only because separatists have now started demanding for it. "Its our demand which has been hijacked by them," Mehbooba said.
As she was not successful despite roping in former Congress General Secretary for Kashmir as well, Mehbooba adopted a tough posture on the present agitation saying if force was used to quell the peaceful protests in Kashmir, PDP leaders and workers will be the first to come to streets and join the protests.
"When the Cong-PDP combine came to power, it was the PDP which favoured opening up of trade routes between Srinagar and Muzzafarabad. Hurriyat Conference including Syed Ali Shah Geelani had given a call for strike when the bus service rolled out," Mufti told reporters at a press conference in New Delhi.
Today opening up of the road is being termed as "anti-national" by political parties where as they were supportive of the idea when PDP was in power, Mufti said.
Asked any action would be initiated against Muzzafar Hussain Beigh, former minister in the Congress-PDP government, for succumbing to the pressure in agreeing transfer of land, the PDP chief said "first and foremost, the people should punish Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has led the state and the country into turmoil."
"Beigh is an internal matter of the party and will be decided accordingly," Mehbooba said when asked to comment on media reports that PDP would sack Beigh.
Asked whether her party agreed for temporary land transfer to Shrine board for two or three months, she said her party was of firm belief that the yatra will be conducted by the state government while the board could take care of the religious duties.
She accused former Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha of large scale corruption in Mata vaishno Devi Shrine Board and Amarnath Shrine Board. "A thorough inquiry will be show how much has been siphoned off from both the boards," she alleged.
Accusing the Centre of adopting a dual policy in Kashmir and Jammu, Mehbooba said "in Jammu violent protests saw no police action but a four day bandh in the valley led to killings of over three dozen people."
"The more we bring the people of Kashmir closer to New Delhi, the more fuss is created by in widening the gulf," she said and asked the Centre to come out clear and talk to separatist leaders at the earliest. "There is a need to resolve the Kashmir issue permanently," she said.
Asked about the incident of hoisting Pakistani flags in Srinagar, she said "if hoisting of flag of any other country was a crime according to law, then appropriate action should be taken against the people involved." |
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