Srinagar, April 29 (KNS): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has said the ongoing elections in Jammu and Kashmir as a crucial opportunity to amplify the voice of the region's people in parliament. She emphasized the necessity of expressing dissent against the disempowering events that have unfolded since August 5, 2019.
Amid inclement weather, hundreds of people gathered in Doru Shahabad to welcome PDP President Mehbooba Mufti during her roadshow in the area. Addressing people, Mehbooba lamented the lack of unified action, stating, "We tried to put up a unanimous fight. I strived for it because the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is crucial." She highlighted her efforts to rally different parties for a collective cause but expressed disappointment at the National Conference's withdrawal from the proposed united front. Mehbooba further expressed amazement over the NC's public ridicule of the PDP and its assertion that the party had become irrelevant in the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir. "As a result, I left my home, travelled across Rajouri, Poonch, and the Kashmir Valley to get an idea about the veracity of the claims made by NC. I wanted to see for myself how a party that ended the Task force, Ikhwaan, repealed POTA, and quashed thousands of FIRs of youth in order to safeguard their future, could vanish from the scene. But what I am seeing are pure rays of hope amidst the pervasive uncertainty. The massive support I am receiving from my people all across is truly overwhelming," Mehbooba said.
"The era of gun culture, pillage, and fear that used to haunt every single street of Kashmir in the past ceased to exist when PDP formed the government in 2003," Mehbooba said, urging people not to lose hope, emphasizing that the current elections transcended mundane issues like infrastructure development. Instead, the PDP President said that the ongoing measures are meant to convey the unequivocal message to the parliament that the actions taken on August 5, 2019, were unjust and must be rectified. "This election surpasses partisan politics and is about sending a strong voice to parliament so that those sitting comfy at the echelons of power hear our just voices. We want to tell them that our resources are ours, our identity is ours, our jobs are ours. The plunder of our hydroelectricity is being carried out in the open while the disenfranchised people of Jammu and Kashmir are reeling under darkness, their jobs are being given to the outsiders, their lands are being taken away from them. They have been virtually choked to death."
Furthermore, Mehbooba highlighted the widespread discontent, noting that even residents of Jammu and Ladakh were joining the chorus of dissent against the events of August 5, 2019. "Therefore, understand that the present polls are not the assembly elections aimed at providing civic amenities to the people. These elections are about our rights and about our fight to get them back," Mehbooba said in her address.
She was accompanied by Senior Leader Syed Farooq Andrabi, Peer Shabir ,Showkat Ah Qureshi and others on this occasion. (KNS)