Srinagar: Mehbooba Mufti was “unanimously” re-elected president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) here on Thursday, the party said.
She has held the post continuously since 2002.
In a statement, the party said members of the electoral college from Jammu and Srinagar unanimously supported Mehbooba Mufti’s re-election.
The proposal to re-elect her was moved by former minister and senior party leader Abdul Rehman Veeri, while senior leader Mohammad Khursheed Aalam seconded it, the statement said.
All members of the electoral college present at the meeting unanimously supported her candidature, reflecting a collective decision, the PDP said.
It added that members of the electoral college from Jammu participated in the proceedings online and extended their unanimous support to her re-election.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday cautioned the Centre against mistaking the “prevailing silence” in Kashmir for peace and asserted that national interest outweighs any government.
Addressing party leaders and workers after being re-elected PDP president, Mufti asked the Centre to trust the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“There is no doubt that right now, there is a party here with 50 seats that obeys your (Centre’s) every command. Whatever you ask for, whatever you want to execute through the Lieutenant Governor, you are now executing through them, and they don’t even utter a sigh of protest,” she said, referring to the National Conference government.
“Yet, trying to normalise everything or getting a rubber stamp from some political party is no solution to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. You will have to place your trust in its people,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti called for an end to the “daily raids and harassment” of families.
“You have to stop these daily raids. You must open prison gates where our people are languishing as undertrials without any due process. Release those who are ill, and those who were granted bail but are still kept behind bars.
“If a militant has fled his home, you target his house, his family. Out of mere suspicion, a family from Tral was targeted: a daughter was married and living with her in-laws; you even arrested her husband. How can this go on? This cannot continue,” she said.
The former chief minister said that while such an atmosphere “suits your political interests, so that you can tour the rest of the country and harvest votes”, it is not in the country’s interests to “leave the wounds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir perpetually raw and bleeding”.
“National interest is far greater than any government. That is why I want to tell you: do not mistake this prevailing silence and suffocation — where Kashmiris are unable to speak — for peace,” she added.
Referring to global political shifts, Mufti warned the BJP that domestic politics built on religious division will ultimately collapse.
“You saw what happened in America. Trump, who stood against Muslims, who subjected Muslims around the world to atrocities, who oversaw the killings of Muslims in Gaza and innocent young lives in Iran; look at the slap in the face the American public dealt him! Look at the blow dealt to the bloodthirsty Prime Minister of Israel.
“So, mend your ways. How long will you keep playing this Hindu-Muslim division card, using Jammu and Kashmir as political fodder? Here, Kashmiri people are being systematically sidelined and erased, whether in the police or the civil administration,” she added.
Asking the Centre not to treat Jammu and Kashmir, “the crown of the nation”, with such indignity and disrespect, the PDP chief said, “If you do not do justice, you will be wiped out.”
“When I say this, I say it to the BJP: You will perish, but this country will endure. This is a great and magnificent nation, and its people understand,” she said.
