SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti, in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), has highlighted that the Kashmir issue transcends the immediate political focus on assembly polls and statehood.
According to media reports, addressing media persons at the PDP office in Srinagar, she criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for narrowing the Kashmir dispute – which has caused immense loss of life and suffering – to a series of political measures, namely the restoration of statehood and assembly elections.
“The extremist BJP has reduced the issue of Kashmir for which thousands have died, thousands have orphaned and we suffered losses of billions to the mere conduct of assembly polls,” she asserted.
The PDP leader emphasized that the BJP’s approach has been to diminish the complex and deep-rooted issue of Kashmir to a mere focus on Article 370 and statehood, which is now being linked solely to the upcoming elections.
Mufti also criticized the rising chorus among political parties calling for the restoration of statehood after the elections, equating it to “looking for shoes after amputating the feet.”
Mehbooba Mufti argued that such a narrow focus on statehood fails to resolve the larger and more critical issues facing the occupied Kashmir. “Limiting the issue just to statehood is an injustice to the Kashmiris,” she further said.
