Not criticising NC, only stating truth: Mehbooba

Srinagar, Sep 02: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti Monday said that she was only stating the truth and not criticising the National Conference (NC) when comparing the performances of the governments run by the two parties during their respective tenures.

Talking to reporters in Pulwama after Nazir Ahmad Dar, son of former minister Sonaullah Dar, joined the PDP, Mufti, a former chief minister said, “The PDP tells the truth. Look at the NC’s governing period and compare it to ours. The NC governed J&K for 40 out of 70 years. We had a third of the MLAs of the NC and yet look at our performance. There is no comparison.”

She also hit out at the NC over its alliance with the BJP.

Mufti said while the PDP’s alliance with the BJP was issue-based, the NC’s tie-up brought problems.

“(National Conference Vice President) Omar Abdullah was a minister in the BJP government. They brought POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) here and banned Shahtoosh (shawls). They were advocating for an attack on Pakistan,” she said. “When we formed the government with the BJP, there were certain conditions. Our government withdrew 12,000 FIRs, we brought a high-level delegation from Delhi to have a dialogue with the Hurriyat. We had a ceasefire.”

Mufti said that the difference was evident in how the Omar Abdullah government handled the 2009 deaths of two women in Shopian and her government's handling of the “painful” Kathua rape and murder case.

“I dropped two sitting (BJP) ministers. This is not opposition, these are facts,” she said.