'Kashmiri women worst sufferers of conflict in Valley'

Unholy alliance of NC, BJP to be blamed, says Mehbooba Mufti

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said due to conflict, bad governance and corruption, problems of women have increased manifold in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Kashmiri women have showed great courage and dignity while dealing the worst kind of turmoil during the last two decades. The women are the first and the worst suffers of any conflict in the world but credit goes to the women of Kashmir who faced these turbulent times with great courage and dignity,” Mehbooba said while addressing a women’s convention in Hazratbaal area here.

She assured the women that their empowerment and fulfilment of their needs will be her party’s priority.

Mehbooba said National Conference (NC) Government, which came into power in 1996 on the promise of providing security to the people and restoration of autonomy, ‘joined hands with BJP for a ministerial berth for Omar Abdullah.’

“This unholy alliance deprived people of the state of their resources like Shahtoos, which was banned by Omar on the instance of Menaka Gandhi. By doing so, the NC has served a death blow to the centuries old entrepreneurship and high value craft of Kashmir rendering thousands of people in Srinagar jobless,” she alleged. 

“Not only this, the NC government handed over the seven most feasible power projects to the NHPC leaving the state high and dry,” she added.

The firebrand PDP president said the same Menaka Gandhi, on whose directions NC went on to make thousands of people jobless, is now demanding that pellet guns may not be used against dogs,” Mehbooba claimed. 

Recalling the promises made by NC in 2008 elections like ‘Meter Hatao, Heater Lagao’ (remove meters, use heaters), free power, jobs for all, reduction in cost of cooking gas, she claimed none of these promises have been fulfilled.