SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Monday launched a scathing attack on National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, accusing him of fuelling anti-India sentiment despite having championed Jammu & Kashmir’s accession to India and providing what she called “Hindutva forces” an opportunity to target the region’s special status.Addressing a party convention at the PDP headquarters here on the occasion of Accession Day (Oct 26), Mehbooba said the people of J&K had willingly joined India and that the country’s initial leadership had maintained good relations with the region and its people.“The first prime minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, had said J&K would be a show window for the world. I do not know what happened between Sheikh Abdullah and the central leadership that Sheikh Abdullah, who was flagbearer of accession, turned against it and began saying we now wanted Pakistan, a plebiscite and separatism,” the former CM said.She said Sheikh Abdullah’s politics strengthened “Hindutva forces” across the country, giving them an excuse to target J&K’s special status and intensify their campaign for “one nation, one flag and one Constitution.”“Sheikh Abdullah was the real flag-bearer of bringing Jammu & Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region, into India. But he became unhappy and launched the plebiscite movement. From 1953, he spent 22 years pursuing that politics. As a result of it, the people of Jammu & Kashmir came to be viewed with suspicion by the country,” she said.“Look at J&K today. It is one of the most militarised regions in the world. There are seven to eight lakh troops including security personnel, paramilitary forces deployed here,” Mehbooba said.She said Sheikh Abdullah returned to the political mainstream in 1975 after reaching an accord with the Centre and abandoned the slogans he had raised for 22 years, including those relating to a plebiscite and Pakistan. However, she said, the people of J&K continued to pay the price for his politics of 22 years.“Even after 80 years, J&K continues to suffer,” she said.Mehbooba said recently at the United Nations, the president of Turkey, who has nothing to do with J&K, raised the issue. As usual, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif also raised it. “In response, our govt said J&K is an integral part of India,” she said.
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Mehbooba said J&K will be discussed in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh elections, but no one talks about the people of J&K. “Instead, they talk to us through agencies like the NIA and CBI, through the UAPA and the Public Safety Act (PSA),” she said.“India is a great country with a rich culture and heritage, its people are great. But the people of J&K continue to be treated as they were in 1947,” she said. “In 2019, they pushed Jammu & Kashmir into further decline by taking away our rights and abrogating Article 370,” she said.The 79th Accession Day is being celebrated across J&K on Monday. On Oct 26, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the then ruler of the princely state, signed the Instrument of Accession, formally agreeing to Jammu & Kashmir’s accession to India, which came into effect on Oct 27, 1947.
