JOIN USHussain Baig’s revolt against Mehbooba again in open
In an open revolt against incarcerated PDP president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and showing willingness to enter into a dialogue process post abrogation of Article 370, the party patron Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Thursday said problems of J&K couldn’t be solved by “coercing” New Delhi.
“My opinion is that if you want to talk about issues relating to people of Jammu and Kashmir, you will have to talk in a dignified and civilised manner. You can’t achieve anything by coercing the prime minister, home minister or National Security Advisor (NSA),” Baig, who was also deputy chief minister of J&K," was quoted by ANI as saying.
Targeting Mehbooba for her utterances, he said her comment that “no one in J&K would hold the Tricolour if Article 370 was tampered with” was wrong.
Baig claimed such statements resulted in the downgrading of J&K from state to Union Territory. “That did not help us. That should not have been made,” he said.
In July 2017, Mehbooba as chief minister of J&K, with the BJP as her alliance partner had warned that if Kashmir’s special status was tampered with, “is jhande [tricolor] ko kaandha dene waala koi nahi hoga Kashmir mein [there will be nobody to carry the Tricolor on their shoulders].”
Again, on July 27 last year, Mehbooba warned New Delhi saying, “Tinkering with Article 35A will be akin to setting a powder keg on fire. If any hand tries to touch Article 35A, not only that hand but the whole body will be burnt to ashes.”
Earlier in October, Baig in another attempt to outreach to the Center, going against his party’s stated position, had attended a luncheon meeting hosted by NSA Ajit Doval for 27 European lawmakers in New Delhi.
He had also criticised the PDP’s decision to boycott local body polls in the state in 2018. Beig’s latest statement came on a day when a group of 15 foreign envoys arrived in Srinagar for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
His latest remarks came on a day when a group of 15 foreign envoys arrived in Srinagar for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the first visit by diplomats ever since the revocation of the state’s special status followed by its bifurcation into two Union Territories in August last year.