SRINAGAR, DEC 26: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said there is growing intolerance in the country and urged Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to send a ministerial team to different states to ensure the safety of Kashmiris following recent harassment incidents.
“The intolerance in the entire country has increased. Lynchings are taking place. What is happening in Bangladesh pains us, but those who criticise it watch as mute spectators when lynchings take place here,” Mehbooba told reporters.
Referring to the assault on a Kashmiri trader in Uttarakhand, the PDP chief said she immediately tweeted and tagged the Uttarakhand DGP, seeking his intervention on the issue. “That is why the accused was arrested. There are still some officers in the police who respond. But three incidents took place in 72 hours? In Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. What is happening is distressing,” she added.
Mehbooba urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to constitute a ministerial team and send it to states to ensure the safety of Kashmiris there. “Our government should send a ministerial team to every state and especially to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, where most of such incidents take place,” she said.
On Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq removing the designation of ‘chairman of Hurriyat Conference’ from his X profile, Mehbooba said that while it was a personal choice, the government should address the idea behind the Hurriyat.
“It is his (Mirwaiz’s) personal decision. But, I want to say the whole Hurriyat leadership is in jail, so there should not be new camps being put up, or new arrests made and surveillance on ideas,” she said.
“Hurriyat is an idea, it is not a person who can be thrown in jail. It is the alienation that the people feel between the country and themselves. You can jail people, you can remove names from a platform, but there is a need to address the alienation,” the PDP chief added.
