Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that Jammu and Kashmir will not be a part of the country if the conditions on which it acceded to India are removed, the Hindustan Times reported.
Mufti was responding to Bharatiya Janata Party National President Amit Shah’s statement that Article 35A, which grants special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, would be repealed by 2020.
“I think he should be prepared that by 2020, Jammu and Kashmir will not be part of the country if the very conditions on which it had acceded to the country are removed,” she said. “Then they should be prepared for a bigger fight and Mehbooba Mufti will be in the forefront of that fight,” she told reporters after filing her nomination papers for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.
When asked if she supports the call for a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti said National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah should have made that point when he signed the 1975 Accord and insisted on the restoration of the prime minister’s post. “After that, the National Conference had two-third majority for all these years, unfortunately they did nothing of the sort,” she said. “Today, they are talking [about separate prime minister for the state], if that happens why not.”
Mufti said the whole state will fight together to defend Article 370 of the Constitution. The article grants special status to the state.
On the Congress manifesto, Mufti said it was the same as the Agenda of Alliance agreed upon between her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the BJP when the government was formed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015, PTI reported. She said: “..status quo on Article 370, revocation of AFSPA, holding dialogue and reducing Army footprint from civilian areas. It is word by word the same thing.”
On Saturday, Mufti had warned that the state’s relationship with the Centre will be over if Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked. Mufti had made the statement two days after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s blog post said that Article 35A is “constitutionally vulnerable” and is an impediment to the economic development of Jammu and Kashmir.
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