‘Go to Pak’ rhetoric must never be used: Mehbooba

Amit Khjauria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 27

Peoples Democratic Party president and MP Mehbooba Mufti warned against attempts of the fringe elements to fiddle with the splendid and all-inclusive fabric of the Constitution that has guided the affairs of the nation to date.

Mehbooba , who is being tipped as the successor to her father and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said it was the duty of every citizen of the country to respect the Constitution..

She said every citizen of the country, irrespective of his or her religion, had the right to have his or her views on various issues and nobody could threaten or intimidate them with the “Go to Pakistan” rhetoric. “Indian Muslims, like their Hindu brethren, are the biggest votaries of peaceful co-existence and they have time and again proved this fact by not getting lured by perilous phenomenon of religious radicalisation and extremism which is of late sweeping throughout the Middle East, West Asia and Europe like a deadly monster,” she said.

“By trying to fiddle with the very basic fabric of inclusiveness and tolerance, we may, unwittingly, become a part of the perilous conflict going on in other parts of the world, which may in the long run endanger the peace and stability in the country. The divisive fringe elements need to be isolated before it is too late,” she added.

Mehbooba, who represents the Anantnag parliamentary constituency, said that the all-inclusive culture was our strength and should not be allowed to be undermined by the fringe elements.

“Fortunately, the makers of India’s inclusive Constitution didn’t think in terms of electoral gains, they thought of country’s integrity and unity by charting out a path of inclusiveness and democratic norms which keep India bound together irrespective of its multiple diversities,” Mehbooba said.

The PDP president said that instead of getting bogged down by the despicable actions of some fringe elements, the country’s political leadership must rise to the occasion and work towards building new bonds of amity and cooperation, not only within the country but also the whole South Asian region to usher its people into a new era of peace and prosperity.