Centre must stop treating J&K people like criminals: Mehbooba

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday hit out at the Centre, alleging that it is treating the people of Jammu and Kashmir as criminals.

Speaking to reporters in Anantnag district, Mufti said, “People are being sacked from service and labelled as anti-national. They even brand houses as anti-national. Then these lifeless properties are attached or blown up with explosives.” Referring to attachment of the office of banned Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Kashmir, an outfit floated by late Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 2004, Mufti said the separatist leader was dead but his widow lives in the attached property.

The three-storey building in Hyderpora, which was Geelani’s residence and also served as the headquarters of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, was attached under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Wednesday.

“Geelani has died and his 80-year-old widow lives there. There is something called humanity! Recently, Bihar was shut down because someone used abusive language against a mother. Here an 80-year-old widow, who is also a mother, lives. And you are attaching her house,” the former chief minister said.

Mufti said there can be ideological differences with political outfits but that should not result in adoption of an inhuman attitude. “We can have differences of opinion. Just like we don’t like RSS ideology, we don’t like Geelani’s ideology as well. But you have turned his house into something criminal. You have attached Jamaat-e-Islami schools and the Falah-e-Aam trust. You carry out raids everyday. What have you turned Kashmir into?” she asked.

“In 1947, J&K went against Pakistan and acceded to India. But today you are treating the people here like criminals,” she alleged.

The PDP chief said dialogue was the only way to resolve issues. “Whatever happened in Ladakh was bad but there you are holding talks. Even in Gaza, there are efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue,” she said, adding that issues in Kashmir must also be resolved through dialogue.