HELD SRINAGAR: As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Kashmiri politicians in New Delhi on Thursday, popular Kashmiri leaders in Indian-occupied Kashmir denounced the move as a “drama” by the Indian government.
As per news reports, Modi was set to meet 14 pro-India Kashmiri leaders, four of whom are former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mehbooba Mufti. The Modi government, however, had not invited the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) for the conclave.
In a video message recorded before the meeting, Kashmiri activist Mushaal Mullick, wife of incarcerated Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik, referred to Modi’s meeting as a “theatre and drama”. She said the Indian premier and his government had made every Kashmiri stateless without an identity and snatching their flag and statehood.
Mullick said Modi expected the world to believe there is normalcy and democracy on the “graveyard of innocent Kashmiris” when “every Kashmiri is being silenced and is being forced to evacuate”. She said those who represented the people of occupied Kashmir were being “locked up, beaten up, harassed and sent to death cells”.
“Bravo to Mr Modi for believing the world to be so foolish or expecting it to be deaf and dumb or with eyes wide shut that they can’t see what you’ve done to us,” she said. Hurriyat representative Altaf Wani also rejected the conference, saying that holding talks with so-called politicians and giving the impression that the situation in occupied Kashmir was returning to normal is wrong. “The Indian government has always betrayed the people of Kashmir,” he said, adding that there was no other option for the people of Kashmir but for them to be given the right to self determination. The meeting was to be the first political engagement between the Kashmiri leadership and the BJP government since New Dehli scrapped Article 370 of its Constitution in august 2019.
Ahead of the meeting, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mufti urged the Indian prime minister to talk to Pakistan too on the Kashmir issue. She said there was no reason for India not to talk to Pakistan when countries can have a dialogue with others.
“If they can go to Doha and talk to the Taliban they should have a dialogue with us and with Pakistan too in order to bring about a resolution,” she said. She spoke about her agenda for the Modi meeting. Mufti said that the leaders “will put forth their views and press for demand to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood”.