PDP Chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in his desperate attempts to win back the support of the people though misses no day in claiming the credit for what she calls “stopping BJP from launching crackdown on the separatists and ban on Jamat-e-Islamic ahead of upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state but she must also keeping in mind that people of Kashmir can’t forget her silence over the killing of civilians during her two year stint as Chief Minister of PDP-BJP coalition government till June last year when BJP pulled out rugs from her feet . By claiming credit for stopping BJP from what she calls “ launching crackdown on separatists and banning Jamat -e- Islami, Mehbooba is just making a desperate attempt to check the memory of gullible Kashmiris put at the received end by her government for about two years. Had Mehbooba mustered the courage to resist the policy pursued by Narendra Modi led BJP government at the centre the NIA won’t have taken dozens of separatist including the likes of Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and others to jails outside the Jammu & Kashmir state. She as Chief Minister of PDP-BJP coalition government used to take pride in having alliance with BJP and even blamed top leaders of Congress and National Conference dozens of times for the current mess in Kashmir till the day BJP withdrew its support to her party. Today Mehbooba pitches for joint resistance against BJP and her party accuses National Conference President Farooq Abdullah of sabotaging the proposed moves for joint resistance against BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections of the state but people of Kashmir still remember her categorical denial to offer of support from National Conference , Congress and less than half a dozen independent legislators in Kashmir for the formation of non BJP government in the only muslim majority state of the country.
A popular government is obliged to take care of its constitutional duty of protecting the lives and property of civilians but Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of PDP-BJP coalition government failed to stop the National Investigative Agency (NIA) from taking separatist leaders to jails in other states of the country and persuade the central government to replace the pellet gun by less lethal weapons. Don’t forget that While Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister of NC- Congress coalition government offered institutional and administrative access to NIA in Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti allowed NIA to set up its offices in Jammu & Kashmir state.
She never bothered to have a re-look at the crowd control policing methods experimented by the police, paramilitaries and army for the last three years and never responded seriously to the demand of the opposition parties for replacement of pellet guns by less lethal weapons for crowd control policing in Kashmir. Though she as Chief Minister several times exhorted the top brass of police, army and paramilitary forces to adhere to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) during cordon and search operations (CASO) in populated areas but non stop civilian killings were a pointer to the fact that she had no courage to seek explanations from the law enforcing authorities including police, paramilitaries and army on disproportionate use of force in crowd control policing . A popular government is obliged to take care of its constitutional duty of protecting the lives and property of civilians but Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of PDP-BJP coalition government failed to stop the National Investigative Agency (NIA) from taking separatist leaders to jails in other states of the country and persuade the central government to replace the pellet gun by less lethal weapons. Don’t forget that While Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister of NC- Congress coalition government offered institutional and administrative access to NIA in Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti allowed NIA to set up its offices in Jammu & Kashmir state.
