News Analysis India

Tag: Peoples Democratic Party

  • BJP trampling on democracy, human rights in Jammu and Kashmir: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday accused the BJP of trampling on democracy and human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The BJP-led government is at “war with its own people,” the former chief minister alleged.

    “The BJP government lectures Afghanistan on inclusive government and human rights, and in Kashmir, people are jailed and booked for treason for demanding constitutional rights. Inclusiveness for the BJP in Kashmir changes to mean only people who toe its lines and propagate its agenda,” Mufti said here.

    The PDP chief is on a five-day visit to Jammu.

    She held a series of meetings with party workers and various delegations over the past two days at the party headquarters besides welcoming several prominent social activists into the party fold on Sunday.

    “The country and the world should take note of how the BJP is implementing majoritarianism in the once largest democracy of the world, how the party is lecturing the world on democracy, human rights, and human values, and how it is trampling on democracy and human values in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mehbooba said.

    A PDP spokesperson said Mehbooba Mufti visited the Peer Baba shrine in Satwari on Saturday evening.

  • ‘Fake claims of normalcy exposed’: Mehbooba accuses J&K authorities of putting her under house arrest

    By ANI

    SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti alleged on Tuesday that she has been put under house arrest.

    In a tweet, Mufti claimed that the administration has said that situation is far from normal in Kashmir.

    She further slammed the Central government for expressing concerns for the Afghan people and denying the same to Kashmiris.

    “GOI expresses concern for the rights of Afghan people but wilfully denies the same to Kashmiris. I’ve been placed under house arrest today because according to admin the situation is far from normal in Kashmir. This exposes their fake claims of normalcy,” the PDP chief said in a tweet.

    Earlier today Jammu and Kashmir Police said that most of the restrictions had been eased, including the Internet shutdown, and the situation is fully normal in both regions of Kashmir and Jammu.

    Restrictions were imposed and internet and mobile services were suspended immediately after the demise of former Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

    Mufti on last Wednesday informed that Geelani passed away at the age of 91.

  • PDP only party that is resisting Centre: Mehbooba Mufti

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said her Peoples Democratic Party was the only party that is resisting the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Talking to reporters after meeting party workers in Pulwama district in south Kashmir, Mehbooba said the Centre is trying to break the PDP by either “offering” its leaders something or using its agencies to intimidate them.

    “If you stop resisting, you will stop existing. If we have to exist, then the PDP has to stand before the Centre the way it is. PDP is the only party which is resisting the moves of the Centre that is why they tried to break the PDP by giving offers to some leaders and used NIA, ED like agencies to break others,” the party chief said.

    She said the leaders of her party were thrown out of their secure residential quarters, their security was being taken back and even cases were being registered against them.

    “Some are being kept in jails like (party’s youth leader) Waheed Para,” she added. Mehbooba said the PDP is not a party but a movement, an ideology and the BJP cannot break it.

    “PDP came into existence for the peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir. We will not leave this path till Jammu and Kashmir will become a bridge of peace between India and Pakistan,” she said.

  • Won’t contest polls until both constitutions are made applicable to J-K: Mehbooba

    Replying to a question on contesting elections and becoming a chief minister, she said the PDP has several capable people and not just Mehbooba Mufti alone.

  • Greener pastures, new parties lure PDP leaders

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR:  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had emerged as a strong political force in Jammu and Kashmir after its launch in 1998, has been considerably weakened by defections. While PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti was under detention after scrapping of Article 370, several leaders quit the PDP to join the Apni Party. The majority of leaders in the Apni Party, which was floated in March last year and is said to have tacit support of BJP, came from PDP including its founder Altaf Bukhari. The desertions started after the fall of PDP-BJP coalition government in June 2018. 

    The first to rebel was influential Shia leader and former minister Imran Ansari. He accused Mufti of turning the party into a family fiefdom. Later, Mufti’s close aide and former MLA Peerzada Mansoor, who was booked twice under PSA after his detention following Article 370 scrapping, senior leader Khurshid Alam , founding member and former MP Muzaffar Baig and his wife Safina Baig quit the party to join Peoples Conference.

    Out of the 28 MLAs elected on PDP ticket to J&K Assembly in 2014, 18 have quit the party since the fall of PDP-BJP government. PDP leaders blame the Centre and J&K government for weakening the party in view of its stand on Article 370 revocation. Senior PDP leader Firdous Ahmed Tak said, “Some got unnerved by seeing greener pastures on the other side. But in the majority of cases, PDP leaders are being targeted.”

  • Money laundering case: Mehbooba Mufti to appear for questioning before ED in Srinagar on Thursday

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti would appear before Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Srinagar for questioning in a money laundering case on Thursday.

    Sources told The New Indian Express that Mehbooba would be appearing in ED’s Srinagar office tomorrow to face questioning in the money laundering case. “She had shown her reluctance to go to Delhi and requested the ED officials to question her in Srinagar and not in Delhi. Her request was accepted and now ED officials have arranged for her questioning in Srinagar tomorrow,” they said.

    The ED had served notice to Mehbooba to appear at ED’s headquarters in New Delhi for questioning on March 22 after Delhi HC on March 19 refused to stay summons issued to her by the central agency.

    However, the PDP chief had not travelled to Delhi on March 22 for questioning saying that she had prior commitments that cannot be cancelled.

    On March 5 this year, ED had summoned Mehbooba for questioning in a money laundering case in New Delhi on March 15. The ED has filed a case against Mehbooba under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    The summon had warned that in case she fails to give evidence as mentioned in the Schedule, she shall be liable to penal proceedings  under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (15 of 2003). After receiving the ED summons, Mehbooba had alleged that Centre’s tactics to intimidate and browbeat political opponents won’t work.

    “GOI’s tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable. They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short-sighted scheming won’t work (sic),” Mehbooba had tweeted.

    GOIs tactics to intimidate & browbeat political opponents to make them toe their line has become tediously predictable.They don’t want us to raise questions about its punitive actions & policies. Such short sighted scheming wont work .
    — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 5, 2021

    Mehbooba, who is critical of Article 370 abrogation and demanding restoration of J&K’s special status, was released from 14 months detention in October 2020. She was among the mainstream leaders arrested on August 5, 2019 when centre scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu & Kashir state into two Union Territories. She was among the dozen mainstream leaders booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) after her detention.

    In December last year, ED had attached properties worth Rs 12 crore of former J&K Chief Minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in J&K Cricket Association scam.

    The attached properties include his Gupar residence in Srinagar, another residence at Katipora in Tangmarg and one in Jammu besides his commercial buildings at Residency Road, Srinagar and land. Abdullah, who is Srinagar MP, has challenged the attachment of his properties in Jammu & Kashmir High Court.