States » NorthPosted at: Nov 2 2026 6:07PM


Mehbooba blames NC for laying foundation of mistrust between Kashmiris & rest of country

Srinagar, Nov 2 (UNI) PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday launched a sharp attack on the National Conference (NC), holding its founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah responsible for sowing mistrust between Kashmiris and the rest of the country, and said peace would remain elusive in Jammu and Kashmir as long as the NC stays in power.
Addressing party workers on the PDP’s Foundation Day, she accused the NC of shifting its stand on Kashmir to suit its pursuit of power.
“The National Conference laid the foundation of this suspicion through its politics,” she said.
Mehbooba asked why India does not trust Kashmiris, and why Kashmiris do not trust India, pointing to the deployment of nearly 10 lakh security personnel in the region.
She noted that Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India 79 years ago, a decision backed by Sheikh Abdullah even though the state had a Muslim majority.
“You decided after looking at Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and believing in their vision. But what happened within two years that you called for a plebiscite?” she asked.
She said Sheikh Abdullah had been aware of the hostility of the Jan Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha towards Muslims when he took that decision.
Referring to the 1975 Indira-Sheikh Accord, she said, “For 22 years, you called for a plebiscite in Pakistan, and then overnight you accepted the chair again.”
The resulting uncertainty, she said, damaged not just ties between New Delhi and Kashmir but also the trust between ordinary Kashmiris and the rest of the country.
National leaders, from Jawaharlal Nehru to B R Ambedkar, began viewing not only the NC leadership but ordinary Kashmiris with suspicion, she claimed.
Mehbooba also took aim at Farooq Abdullah, accusing the three-time chief minister of sending a signal to Delhi by claiming Pakistan was protecting Kashmir, a remark she said implied Kashmiris backed Pakistan.
“This was his signal to Delhi that Kashmiris are with Pakistan,” she claimed. “And yesterday in Delhi, he said that my last blood is for Hindustan. In Kashmir he talks one language, and in Delhi there is another.”
Urging party workers not to be defensive about the PDP’s 2014 alliance with the BJP, she asked them to counter NC criticism by reminding its leaders of Sheikh Abdullah’s positions on Kashmir, which she alleged contributed to people’s suffering.
She said her father and PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed set up the party as an alternative political platform and tried to bridge the trust gap between Kashmir and India. He invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Kashmir, she recalled, telling him that Kashmiris needed dignity and respect, not just roads and bridges, and urged the then prime minister to extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan.
Mehbooba said Kashmir could be resolved through dialogue and healing, not coercion.
“Kashmir cannot be resolved by using the UAPA, PSA or dismissing employees from service or jailing poor people,” she said.
She also called for reopening traditional trade routes to Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand, similar to arrangements in Lipulekh, Uttarakhand.
“This policy of using force will not work. How long can you silence the people here?” she asked.
Describing Jammu and Kashmir as the “crown of India” and a land of saints, she warned the Centre against undermining the dignity and identity of its people.
“If you remove this crown and, God forbid, turn it into something else, you will perish, and not even a trace of your story will remain in history,” she said.
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