Mudassir Kuloo
Srinagar, July 13: Peoples Democratic Party’s renegade legislators on Friday said Mehbooba Mufti was trying to “blackmail” New Delhi with her statement about a repeat of 1987 in Kashmir.
Five of the PDP members opposing Mehbooba’s way of handling the party–Imran Raza Ansari, Javaid Hussain Beigh, Abdul Majeed Padroo, Yasir Reshi, and Saifuddin Bhat—jointly condemned her statement.
“Mehbooba is being absurd by saying if there is split in the PDP, people may pick up guns. She is blackmailing the centre. We are neither separatists nor militants,” Imran, the former IT minister in the Mehbooba-led government, said in their joint press conference here.
“She is feeling insecure. People have been picking up guns in her tenure. It is a serious statement, the kind of which Abdullahs and Muftis make when out of power.”
Their response came shortly after Mehbooba warned New Delhi against splitting her party.
“If New Delhi tries to intervene, it will increase troubles in the Valley. If they do like in 1987, which gave birth to Salahuddin and Yasin Malik, the outcomes will be dangerous. Any attempt to break the PDP will have serious repercussions,” Mehbooba told reporters after paying tributes to 1931 martyrs.
She was reacting to the speculations about BJP trying to form a new government in the state with the help of PDP members who are ready to break away.
At least, six PDP members have spoken against the Mehbooba since the fall of her government.
“We are still a part of PDP, until a show-cause notice and other official action is taken. Nobody can label us as agents of New Delhi. Are only Mehbooba and Omar speaking truth in Kashmir?” Imran Raza asked.
Asked why they did not raise these issues when the PDP-BJP were in power, he replied, “We woke up now and listened to our conscience. We are PDP but want to get rid of family rule (Khandani Raaj). We made her president, but she is not competent. We are against her and have no faith in her leadership.”
The MLA Baramulla, Javaid Hussain Beigh, said they would take “all steps” to get the party back on the track.
“If our demands are not met, we will decide about our future,” he said.
“The assets of the party like Muzaffar Beigh or Tariq Hamid Karra were sidelined, which became the reason for the latter to leave.”
Beigh said that after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed death, Mehbooba delayed the government formation for several months.
“Mehbooba then claimed that she formed the government after assurances from Narendra Modi over implementation of CBMs. But we have been raising all these issues in party meetings. We even asked when Tasaduq Mufti gave a statement that PDP was party to Kashmir bloodshed,” he said.
“Before elections, the mainstream parties promise to resolve Kashmir issue. But they fail to do once in power.”
He said that former finance minister Haseeb Drabu was not given any opportunity to give clarification related to his statement before he was dropped from the cabinet.
“If any leader resort to anti-party activities, he has to first seek explanation then party affairs committee takes a decision,” he said.
They said they have not decided to support any party in government formation.
“We did not receive any dictations from New Delhi,” Beigh said.
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