Restoration of basic rights in JK our priority: Mehbooba

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said elections to Jammu and Kashmir assembly were not her priority as her party would like to focus on restoration of basic rights of the people of the union territory.

"Election is a distant issue. The priority should be restoration of basic rights of people which are being denied. People should have the freedom of movement, freedom of expression," she told reporters here.

The former chief minister said if her party had resources, they would have fought in the Supreme Court the cases of those Kashmiri detainees who are lodged in various jails of the country post-2019.

"Their families don't have resources to mount a legal battle and their cases are rarely being heard," she added.

Asked about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent remarks on Article 370, Mehbooba said she cannot engage on the importance of Article 370 with those "who have destroyed the Constitution of the country".

"What do I tell them? The BJP is not respecting the constitution of the country. BJP has implemented their communal agenda. They don't know what the significance of Article 370 is. It was a bridge between Jammu and Kashmir and the country which they have broken," she alleged.

On the criticism from a certain foreign agency on holding a G20 meeting in Kashmir, the PDP president said the government was trying to present a picture of normalcy in the valley to the international community.

"People are being harassed. Agencies like NIA, SIA and SIU are carrying out daily raids. Schools have been shut for 10 days while shopkeepers have been told to keep their shops open. Everybody is being threatened. In such a scenario, you want to present Kashmir as a trophy in the G20 by painting a picture of normalcy. You and I both know what is right in Kashmir!" she claimed.

On the violence in a Jammu medical college over "The Kerala Story" movie, Mehbooba said, "Unfortunately the BJP government is promoting such movies which spread hate and division in the society." "We saw its results in the GMC Jammu where students were bathed in blood. The reason was the argument over 'The Kerala Story'. I think the nation needs to act sensibly on such matters like the people of Karnataka did in the recent elections," she added.

On the arrest of two absconders in the Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq murder case, the PDP president said action against those involved in killings including those of kashmiri Pandits was welcome.

"No one is against taking action in such cases but one has to ask why are Kashmiri Pandits, who lived here through the worst of the times over the past 30 years, forced to flee to Jammu. Why is Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest for so many years now?" she asked.