Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti has strongly critiqued the Indian government’s approach to the Kashmir conflict, emphasizing that the issue extends beyond the politics of statehood and assembly elections.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mufti spoke to the media at the PDP office in Srinagar, where she voiced her dissatisfaction with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) handling of the conflict. She argued that the BJP has oversimplified the complexities of the Kashmir situation, which has witnessed significant losses and suffering, into electoral and administrative concerns.
“The BJP has reduced the Kashmir issue – for which thousands have died, thousands have been orphaned, and we suffered losses of billions – to the mere conduct of assembly elections,” Mufti stated. She criticized the BJP’s narrow focus on Article 370 and statehood, particularly their linkage to forthcoming elections.
Mufti also responded to the calls from various political factions for the restoration of statehood following elections, comparing it to an inadequate and misplaced priority: “looking for shoes after amputating the feet.”
She stressed that such a limited approach does not do justice to the broader, more pressing issues that need resolution in Kashmir, labeling the focus on statehood as an injustice to its people.