SRINAGAR — Accused of assaulting an on-duty police officer, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said she and her daughter were being targeted for raising their voice and urged the party workers to continue the struggle for resolution of the Kashmir issue even if she and Iltija go to jail.
A day after the mother-daughter duo was named in the FIR at the Kothibagh police station, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state urged her party supporters to remain steadfast on the path shown by PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.
Iltija has been summoned to the police station on Friday for questioning.
“Iltija has been called to the Kothibagh police station. She will go. (If) they call me tomorrow, I will also go. But, remember one thing: whether I or Iltija are inside (jail) or outside, you will not leave Sayeed’s agenda, vision and the roadmap that he has given for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. Article 370 is a part of that (roadmap),” Mehbooba said addressing her party workers at the PDP headquarters here.
“They (the BJP government) trampled the Constitution, and a time will come when they will have to correct it. But you do not have to lose courage,” she added.
She urged her party to remain unfazed and said the PDP will continue its struggle for the restoration of Article 370 abrogated by the Centre on August 5, 2019.
“If you have to save the real Jammu and Kashmir, its land and resources, then you have to remain steadfast. I am here now; I may not be here tomorrow. Whether I or Iltija are here or not, the PDP will continue its peaceful and democratic struggle for the restoration of Article 370,” she said.
Mehbooba said targeting the PDP was not something new.
“Our party was broken, and new parties were created. Those parties defended the abrogation of Article 370 in the country. The targeting of the PDP is still going on. Why was there no action against the National Conference or Congress or others? Talking about (Article) 370 has become a crime. Those who talk about (Article) 370 are branded criminals,” she said.
The PDP president expressed her gratitude to the party workers for turning up to protest on the evening of August 4 and the next day.
“I thank you all for showing the country’s institutions that Article 370 and 35A live in the hearts of the people, no matter what,” she said.
The PDP was the only party that raised the voice on Article 370, while others only want restoration of statehood, she claimed.
“There is no other issue than (Article) 370. Did the BJP not take out a rally? Did they not insult the women? But there is no FIR,” she said, referring to the allegation that the BJP Anantnag unit raised derogatory slogans against Kashmiri women during a rally on August 5 to mark seven years since the abrogation of Article 370.
“The National Conference, Congress and Apni Party also took out protests, but they protested for statehood. PDP is the only party which protested for the resolution of the Kashmir issue along with (Article 370),” she said.
On Iltija’s summoning, the PDP president said her daughter did not have a weapon or a stone in her hands.
“The way she was dealt with, she will respond to that. (But), a lady officer told a constable to drag her (Iltija) away. Should a man touch a girl? They are saying that she attacked the police. When you grab a girl here (by her collar), what will she do? Our big leaders should be ashamed.
“Rather than condemning that, they are singing different tunes because they do not want to talk about Article 370,” Mehbooba added. — (PTI)