Will go to people, explain position, says PDP leader
SRINAGAR: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is “proud” of the reasons cited by the BJP to walk out of Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling alliance and will present these issues as achievements to the people of Kashmir, party leaders said.
The PDP’s district president in Srinagar and member of the legislative council Mohammad Khurshid Alam said the reasons the BJP gave for pulling out of the alliance on Tuesday are “worth hailing” and that the party felt “proud of such reasons”.
“The reasons are demands made by Mehbooba Mufti for talks with Pakistan and separatists, withdrawal of the cases against the stone-pelters, implementation of the ceasefire on ground and measures to be taken for successful dialogue and reconciliation,” the legislator said.
He said that from “protecting the state subject law to punishing the rapists of Kathua”, Mehbooba served as a “wall to protect people of Kashmir from the conspiracies being hatched far from the state.”
Other party leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they will go to the people soon and explain their position.
“In a democracy power lies with the people, we will go to the masses soon and clarify our stand. Let them accept our reasons or reject them. There is no other way,” said a senior PDP leader from south Kashmir on condition of anonymity.
“We played ‘sincere’ politics in the larger interest of people. Our cards are open. We tried to safeguard articles 370 and 35 A, pushed for dialogue and insisted that harsh policies won’t work. Whatever the outcome, we stuck to our stand and will continue to do so,” he said.
The BJP pulled the plug on the nearly 40-month-old government, citing many reasons that included the rise of “terrorism, violence and radicalism” in Kashmir. BJP leaders insisted that the scale and intensity of security operations was not in sync with what the situation demanded, and that Ramza halt on security operations had been announced at Mehbooba’s instance. The internal and external dialogue including a push for talks with Pakistan was also a bone of contention between the two parties.
The PDP, which won all of its 28 seats from the Valley, is facing mounting local anger even in its citadel of south Kashmir because of a spate of civilian deaths in clashes with security forces and injuries to thousands of young men and women because of the use of pellet guns during street protests since 2016.
“We tried to control the situation but not everything was in our hands. We managed to withdraw cases against 10,000 stone pelters,” said another PDP leader on condition of anonymity. The party’s chief spokesman Rafi Mir said that the PDP had tried to implement its core agenda despite lacking numbers.