Srinagar, Sept. 22: The all-party delegation’s visit here to reach out to the Valley’s people may have its share of critics, and cynics. But the PDP president, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, clearly isn’t one of those. She’s happy that at least some sort of engagement by different political parties with the beleaguered Kashmiri people and the separatist leadership has begun and is hopeful that this process will continue.
In an exclusive interview to this newspaper, Ms Mufti emphasised that the process initiated by the all-party delegation needs to continue and this includes its engagement with the separatist leadership.
Noting that the all-party team “did break protocol” to meet the Hurriyat leaders, Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mr Mirwaiz Umer Farooq apart from the JKLF chief Yasin Malik, Ms Mufti said at least it got a “feel of the situation” in the Valley. And Kashmiris, in turn, felt that they are “getting some serious attention”.
Dubbing Omar Abdullah’s government a “repressive” one, Ms Mufti said that its behaviour is akin to that of an elephant that’s been shot and is dying. Even as it’s dying, it is busy destroying everything that comes in its path.
Ms Mufti whose party has been pushing for self-rule in J&K said it (azadi) is a sentiment that has been there and one which has got a fillip due to lack of governance. As the same time, she said people need not consider this sentiment of “azadi” as being blasphemous for “in a democracy, we need to discuss ideas”.
She added, “We can give a new discourse to this azadi without affecting the sovreignty of the country.
Crediting New Delhi for breaking the ice, Ms Mufti said that it was a “welcome departure from the routine things”. Asked why she didn’t meet the delegation, she said that she’d already spoken her mind when the all-party meet was held in Delhi.
As for the perception that the PDP is inching closer to the Congress once again, the PDP leader denied this maintaining that “we’re trying to reach out to all political parties so that they arrive at a national consensus on Kashmir.”
As for Ms Sushma Swaraj’s remarks saying that the reaching out to the separatist leadership by some delegates was not a collective decision, Ms Mufti sought to play them down.