ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 20th Apr, 2024) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has said that Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) has been converted into an open-air prison since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was illegally abrogated by the BJP government.
“There has been an unending onslaught on the Kashmiris’ collective identity, land, jobs, and resources since that day,” she added.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mehbooba Mufti made the remarks at a press conference in Srinagar while releasing the party manifesto for the Indian parliamentary polls.
The PDP president, who is contesting from south Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri seat, said, “Since 2019, after the illegal abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir has been converted into an open-air prison. There has been an unending onslaught on our collective identity, land, jobs, resources, and infringement upon the very freedom to speak.” She pledged to raise a voice against this onslaught in the Indian Parliament.
“They [the BJP] are trying to enforce a sullen sense of silence and defeat.
Our voice is the only weapon to fight these nefarious designs,” Mufti said.
She said a slew of decisions were taken thousands of kilometers away in Delhi on a daily basis to disempower and dispossess the Kashmiris.
“First, start with drastic changes to state subjects and land laws. It was followed by the outsourcing of our resources by gifting contracts to outsiders, from sand to lithium. Even development projects are handed over to non-locals,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti said hundreds of government employees were fired on flimsy grounds.
“Along with livelihoods, passports too have been criminalized. Every recruitment scheme since 2019 has been tainted by murky scams. Thus, we are depriving our hardworking aspirants of job opportunities,” Mufti said.
She said thousands of youngsters continue to languish in jails in and outside IIOJK as under trial.
“The horticulture sector, which is the backbone of our economy, has also borne the brunt of a set of anti-trade measures taken, such as the removal of tax barriers on imported apples and walnuts.”
