Mehbooba warns New Delhi of dire consequences if it tries to break PDP

Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday warned New Delhi against any attempt to break her party--Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to form government in the state.

" If  New Delhi will try to repeat 1987 which gave birth to Mohammad Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salhuuddin (chief of Hizbul Mujahideen based in Pakistan) and JKLF chief Mohammad Yaseen Malik" and break the PDP it will have more dangerous consequences",  she told reporters after paying floral tributes to martyrs of 1931 at Naqashband sahib shrine in the downtown today.

"If in 1987 one Salahuddin and Yaseen Malik were born due to interference by New Delhi, today the situation will be more worse", she warned.

She said without the approval of New Delhi there could not be any horse trading. "My party is united", she said but added that there are could be problems in a house which could be resolved amicably within the house. But, she said if New Delhi will try to interfere this time and break the PDP like it did in 1987 when peoples vote in favour of then Muslim United Front (MUF) was crushed, there could be very dangerous consequences, she warned.

Ms Mehbooba had to resign as chief minister after alliance partner BJP pulled out from the coalition government last year. However, immediately after her resignation, about four MLAs of her party openly revolted against her functioning and alleged that she was encouraging her relatives, including brother, who was a minister in the coalition government.

Governor's rule was imposed in the state but the Assembly was put under suspended animation which gave birth to suspicion that it was done on the advice of centre so that BJP could indulge in horse trading and form a government. Almost all political parties, barring BJP, have demanded dissolution of the Assembly and holding fresh elections at an appropriate time when situation becomes condusive.

BJP flays Mehbooba Mufti for 'desperate' statements on Kashmir situation

Taking strong exceptions to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's statement that any attempt to split PDP will only create more separatists like Yasin Malik, the BJP on Friday lashed out at their former ally and said she should stop sounding "so desperate".

"This is an absurd comment......she must stop sounding so desperate," BJP spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters here.

On her remarks that any split in PDP will only create more Yasin Malik and Salahuddin, Mr Rao wondered whether Ms Mufti was "equating her party PDP with Hizbul Mujahideen.

He said the on-going developments with several PDP legislators attacking Ms Mufti's leadership only shows that "she is losing control"."Whatever is happening in her party is only an internal matter," he said.

Another BJP leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi sarcastically commented: "Ghar sambhal nahi sakte,aur mohalley mein shor macha rahen haen (It is a classic case of someone making noise in the entire locality after he or she cannot run his or her home)".

Mr Naqvi advised Ms Mufti that no statement should be made that would only help the separatists.In a rather unprecedented remark, Ms Mufti earlier said: "If Delhi, tries to dismiss the voting rights of people like 1987, if it tries to create divisions and interfere like that then I think just like a Salahuddin and a Yasin Malik were born in 1987...if it tries to break PDP like that then outcomes will be dangerous". 

However, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has maintained that nothing much should be attributed to Ms Mufti's comments.

"Let me put this out here for all to remember not one new militant will be created with the break up of the PDP. People will not mourn the demise of a party created in Delhi only to divide the votes of Kashmiris," Mr Omar Abdullah said in his tweet, commenting on the formation of PDP.

Ms Mufti's father and former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had founded the PDP in 1998.PDP headed alliance governments in Jammu and Kashmir - first headed by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed between October 2002 and November 2005 with Congress as partner and lately from 2015 to 2018 June with the BJP.(UNI)