I stalled BJP’s moves against separatists, claims Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Former chief minister and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti claimed on Wednesday that it was during the PDP-BJP government that her coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had wanted to declare Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir an unlawful association and also launch a crackdown on Hurriyat Conference and other separatist leaders “but I put my foot own and didn’t allow it to happen.”

While speaking at a PDP workers’ rally in northern town of Bandipora, Ms. Mufti said, “BJP wanted to crackdown on Jamaat-e-Islami and suppress the Hurriyat leadership through NIA (National Investigation Agency) raids. However, my government did not allow the saffron party to do it.”

She claimed that the BJP wanted that the NIA should raid the homes of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatists but her government opposed such a move.

The PDP leader also said that she “forced’ the BJP to have ceasefire in Kashmir for, at least, one month last year but militants did not respond positively to it.

“Militants were not supportive when I forced BJP to have ceasefire for Ramzan. I wanted to have dialogue with separatist leaders and even a Parliamentary committee visited Kashmir in 2016 but they (separatists) shut their doors on it,” she said. She added that the Centre also appointed Dineshwar Sharma as interlocutor to have dialogue with the separatist leadership but again it did not support him.

The NIA which is probing an alleged terror funding case had on February 26 raided the homes of the Mirwaiz, Muhammad Yasin Malik , Shabir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Ashraf Sahrai, Nayeem Geelani (elder son of separatist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani) and Zaffar Akbar Bhat. The NIA asked the Mirwaiz and Mr. Geelani’s younger son Syed Naseem Geelani to appear before it in New Delhi on March 11 for questioning. But the Mirwaiz refused to obey the call, on the plea that he cannot travel out of the Valley due to “conditions of hostility”.

Earlier the government withdrew security cover to eighteen separatist leaders and activists including the Mirwaiz. Mr. Malik has since been detained under the State’s stringer Public Safety Act (PSA) and lodged in Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail.

The Home Ministry had on February 28 banned Jamaat-e-Islami for the next five years after declaring it an “unlawful association”, having potential “to disrupt the unity and integrity of the country”. Prior to the move, more than 250 activists including the entire leadership of the 70-year-old socio-religious and political organisation were detained by the police. The arrest spree has continued.

Ms. Mufti on Wednesday reiterated that result-oriented dialogue with all stakeholders is the only way forward to make peace in restive J&K permanent. She said, “PDP has always been a staunch advocate of political process for the resolution of Kashmir and has been asking the Government of India to hold meaningful dialogue with Hurriyat Conference, Pakistan and with other stakeholders,” she said.

She asserted, “This muscular approach and political patch work will not take us anywhere as this has been tried for many decades and hasn’t yielded any positive outcome”.  She further said, “It is unfortunate that some people still believe in the efficacy of these methods and are trying to repeat the old mistakes which will be meaningless and will prove counter-productive.”