Srinagar, Oct 4 (PTI) PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday urged political parties in Jammu and Kashmir to learn from Ladakh’s unity in pursuing its demands, calling for all parties to come together and jointly take up the region’s political, social and economic issues with the Centre.
“We should learn a lesson from Ladakh — the way they came together to push for their demands…,” Mehbooba said, stressing that Jammu and Kashmir could not address its challenges through individual political parties acting alone.
She said all political parties must come together and form a common platform to engage with the Centre on issues concerning the Union territory.
“Until all the political parties come together and form an alliance and engage with Delhi, we will not be able to tell them to stop banning our institutions, conducting raids and the arrests and detentions of our young people,” Mehbooba said, speaking at the 5th ‘Halla Bolle’ conclave organised by a news portal here.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said the region’s biggest challenge was its young population; political leaders needed to understand their concerns and difficulties rather than merely answer their questions.
“Our biggest challenge is that 60 per cent of our population comprises youths. What are we going to do for them? We not only have to answer their questions, but also understand their difficulties,” she said.
Mehbooba said prolonged detentions, surveillance, arrests and raids had created difficulties for families and could further alienate the younger generation.
She said she had already written letters to the heads of all political parties and everybody, except the National Conference, has responded positively.
“National Conference apparently dismissed the idea even before going through the letter, as was evident when one of its leaders and a minister rejected it… I had no personal or political ego in seeking greater unity, and my only concern is the future of our children, which is at stake,” she said.
Referring to Ladakh’s experience of collective political mobilisation in support of their demands, she said Jammu and Kashmir should learn from the manner in which different groups there came together to press for their demands like statehood and the inclusion of the region under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
She urged the National Conference and other parties to work together and build a consensus on issues affecting Jammu and Kashmir.
“Until all of us come together, we will not be able to achieve anything,” she said.
On the younger generation, Mehbooba said its worldview had changed significantly because of technology and that political leadership needed to respond accordingly.
“Our youngsters are extremely intelligent. Through their mobile phones, their world has reached God knows where. Our vision may be limited, but their vision is very clear,” she said.
She also invoked the political vision of her father, former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and defended her party’s alliance with BJP to form a government in the erstwhile state, from 2014-15 to 2018, saying he had sought to take Jammu and Kashmir out of its difficulties through dialogue and greater connectivity.
Mehbooba said the PDP’s approach had been to take forward the peace process, including through dialogue and opening routes, and argued that Jammu and Kashmir needed to provide its youth with “a new world” through greater opportunities and connectivity.
She also cited her government’s decision to withdraw cases against around 12,000 young people, saying it was done with the help of the BJP even as the “stone-pelting was still a challenge” in the region.
Mehbooba accused the National Conference-led government of “normalising” the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, saying issues over arrests, dismissals and other measures that were earlier protested against are now being treated as “routine”.
The PDF chief claimed that Jammu and Kashmir risked losing its language, culture and traditions — as it is facing an “onslaught” under the BJP-led central government — unless the region’s political class came together.
“The future of our children is at stake,” she added. PTI TAS SSB
PRK
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