pdp-to-contest-alone-says-mufti-wants-jei-ban-lifted

PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said her party would fight the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls on its own as its candidates’ list had been announced.

Mufti in a press conference welcomed the decision of the Jamaat-e-Islami to contest and demanded that the ban on the party be lifted.

"If not a single organisation that pelts stones at masjids is banned, then why ban JeI, which has contributed immensely to educational and social welfare endeavours,'' She added.

Responding to Home Minister Amit Shah's recent statement that Article 370 will never be revoked, Mufti said Shah had not done anything to change the mindset of separatists who claimed that J&K's bridge of accession to India had never been built.

Mufti said that she and her party believe that Jammu and Kashmir was integrated with India through Article 370, but the separatists had argued against it.

Article 370 was a bridge joining Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country, and the bridge was broken, she said. 

"They saw the fallout when the people in North Kashmir started to register and vote on the plebiscite issue." 

The Kashmir issue exists but it has only been more muddled by the abrogation of Article 370, she added.

On her recent statements supporting a Congress-NC coalition, Mufti was clear that her party would be ready to support such an alliance only if their agenda was accepted. 

"Whenever the PDP allied with Congress through the Common Minimum Programme or with the BJP via the Agenda of Alliance, we had a clear agenda. 

Similarly, we now have an agenda; seat sharing can be discussed later. If they accept our agenda, we are ready to support them," she said.

On dialogues with Pakistan and its stand that talks should focus on Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti suggested that there should be joint representation from both sides to address problems in divided regions. 

"If Amit Shah truly believes the other part of Kashmir belongs to India, what is the problem with the PDP's demand for a joint representative committee?" she asked.