Will chop off hands of those who will try to abrogate Art 370, 35A: Mehbooba

Srinagar: PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday vowed to fight for the revocation of ban imposed on Jama’at-e-Islami and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), if party is voted to power.
“As centre has imposed ban on Jamaat and JKLF, we’ll try to revoke the ban if we are voted to power. It is up to the centre to decide whether the ban be revoked or not, but still we demand that this ban should be revoked at an earliest,” she said.
Mehbooba said democracy is battle of ideas and centre can imprison the leadership not the ideas that has place in the hearts of people.
“There is no existing mainstream party that has potential to resolve the Kashmir issue but only PDP that has an agenda to resolve Kashmir issue on priority basis,” she added.
She was addressing workers meet here in Handwara of Kupwara district in north Kashmir belt, with party candidate for the constituency Abdul Qayoom Wani.
Mehbooba said that her father Late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was saying that people are fighting to achieve something new, but are not ready to safeguard what State already has. “Kashmir has its own flag, constitution, rights and state subject and nobody has power to eliminate any of these,” Mehbooba quoted her father as saying.
“The only relation India has with Jammu and Kashmir is Article 370 and 35-A. It acts like a bridge and if it ends, the relation of India with J&K will end,” she said. Hitting out at BJP, Mehbooba Mufti said that, it’s trying to gain votes over their statements calling for attacks on Pakistan and suppressing Kashmirs.
About PDP’s stand on Article 370 and 35-A, Mehbooba said that, “we will chop off the hands of those who will try to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.”
She further stated that NC has always talked about safeguarding the special status of Jammu and Kashmir but whenever they were in power, they have failed to deliver.
“In 1996, NC was in power, had they been working for people, Kashmir wouldn’t have seen worst phases. Keeping in view of elections, National conference is changing its colour like a chameleon to gain public attention,” she said.
About manifesto of Congress, she said that, “I welcome the Congress’s manifesto wherein they claimed that it will review AFSPA, will hold dialogue in Kashmir and talked about Article 370 and other things.”
She further said, “Delhi is using, National Investigation Agency (NIA) to suppress the Kashmirs and its leadership, with unbeaten bans, PSAs, mass crackdowns. But, it won’t have yield better results as such things are being done keeping in view of elections.”
Reacting to Amit Shah’s statement, Mehbooba said that BJP is dreaming about repealing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. “BJP hasn’t so far realized what it means to a Kashmiri, even mainstream political leadership will have to decide their relationship with India, who has pledged to work under the Indian constitution,” she said.