Mehbooba rebuts Amit Shah’s allegations

A day after BJP chief Amit Shah justified his party’s decision to walk out of the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday accused the saffron party of “disowning” its own narrative by calling it a soft approach.”

“Many false charges levelled against us by our former allies. Our commitment to the Agenda of Alliance, co-authored by Ram Madhav & endorsed by senior leaders like Rajnath Ji never wavered. It is sad to see them disown their own initiative & label it a 'soft approach' (sic),” Mehbooba tweeted.

In a series of tweets, she rebutted Shah’s allegations point by point. “Status quo on Article 370, dialogue with Pakistan & Hurriyat were a part of AoA (Agenda of Alliance). Encouraging dialogue, withdrawing cases against stone-pelters & the unilateral ceasefire were much-needed measures to restore confidence on the ground. This was recognized & endorsed by BJP,” Mehbooba said.

On BJP chief’s accusation of discrimination with Jammu and Ladakh regions, the PDP president said, “Allegations of discrimination against Jammu & Ladakh have no basis in reality. Yes, the Valley has been in turmoil for a long time & the floods of 2014 were a setback, therefore it needed focused attention. But that does not mean that there was any less development elsewhere.”

Advising BJP to review the performance of its own ministers, former CM said “Results on the ground for all to see. If anything they should review the performance of their own ministers, who largely represented the Jammu region if there were any such concerns, none among them either at the state or central level talked about it during the last 3 years.”

Shah while addressing a party function in Jammu on Saturday had also said the BJP’s decision to pull out from the state government was taken in view of the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state.

Mehbooba also took a dig at the BJP concerns about free speech. One of her tweets read: "After expressing concern about freedom of expression in J&K following Shujaat's murder, their (BJP) MLA (Lal Singh), notorious & even punished for his role in the aftermath of the unfortunate Kathua case still threatens journalists belonging to the Valley, so what are they going to do about him?"

On Kathua gang rape and murder case of a minor nomad girl, the PDP chief said “Not handing over the Rasana rape & murder case to CBI, getting the pro-rapist ministers removed & also issuing orders not to harass the Gujjar & Bakarwal community in the guise of anti-encroachment drives were my duties as CM to provide a sense of security to both communities.”