In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief, Mehbooba Mufti, has questioned if the Kashmir conflict is over then why thousands of Kashmiris are still languishing in jails across India.
Talking to the media, PDP President Mehboooba Mufti said, “Since BJP came to power, it wants to bulldoze everything, weaponize the majority they hold in parliament, weaponize the agencies, and weaponize the Constitution. The situation has severely deteriorated after 2019—the way Kashmir was treated, the special status scrapped and various laws imposed, and our land, jobs, minerals, and resources were outsourced.”
She pointed out that they have now reached Kashmiris’ homes. “Earlier, Kashmiris were called terrorists, then drug addicts, and, now, they are encroachers. Everyone who lives in J&K is not a citizen but an encroacher. Because of the laws that existed before 2019, we had been able to build our homes. The rich might go to court, but everyone knows how justice is served in the courts. Even the chief justice of India said that lower courts are frightened—they don’t even give bail, etc.—but at least the rich have an alternative. The targeting of those who don’t possess anything except a roof over their heads has led to extreme panic and terror among the citizens.”
She said, “BJP wants to diminish the identity of the people of Kashmir, be they Muslim, Dogra or Ladakhi. They have a goal: one nation, one religion, and one language. They want to embark on implementing this goal starting from J&K. They want to change the demographics of J&K. That’s why they outsource our land, contracts, and jobs. They want an influx of people from outside J&K. Hundreds of thousands of people from outside J&K have been included in the voters’ list so that the ratio of minority and majority changes completely.”
