J&K: Hurriyat lost its relevance after August 5, 2019 says BJP
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 9
Slamming separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference for its call for “Kashmir talks and steps to build confidence”, the BJP on Friday said the Hurriyat had lost its relevance after August 5, 2019, and advised it to start preparing to participate in electoral politics if it wanted to remain relevant.
In the statement issued yesterday, Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq yesterday advocated “dialogue between India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir for resolution of the Kashmir dispute” and suggested a series of steps to build an atmosphere for the talks.
Hitting back with what he termed an “honest suggestion to dishonest Hurriyat”, BJP’s J&K spokesperson Abhijeet Jasrotia said the Hurriyat Conference lost its relevance after the abrogation of special status to the J&K on August 5, 2019.
“It was a doomsday for the Hurriyat, Pakistan, and Pakistan proxies and a new beginning of ‘Naya Kashmir’ as promised by the Narendra Modi government”.
Jasrotia said Hurriyat leaders who warned serious repercussions, maintained silence.
“The beginning of a new era can be judged by a decrease in the incidence of stone-pelting and new recruits for terror activities. Hurriyat leaders are nearly irrelevant and the statement regarding confidence-building measures with the Centre proves their desperation to somehow remain relevant. Like many political mainstream parties of Kashmir, they are now playing with the rattle of Article 370, which they also know will never come back,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson claimed that the reason behind the latest statement was that their funding from Pakistan has dried up due to strict vigil by the Indian government.
“They are bankrupt. My advice to the Hurriyat is that they should realise that Article 370 is buried in a grave and will never come back to life. They should start thinking about participating in the electoral process to remain relevant before it is too late for them, otherwise, they will soon be history,” he said.
Reports quoted the separatist organisation of saying that it has “always advocated peace and growth for all the people of the region and it’s strong belief is that this can actually be achieved with the resolution of the Kashmir conflict through dialogue among India and Pakistan and the people of J&K”.
“For a dialogue, trust and a conducive atmosphere is the first requirement. To achieve this the government must revoke all measures of demographic change and all laws that disempower the people of J&K, especially since August 2019, and release the youth and all political prisoners from jails and under house detention, including its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,” it said.
