Mehbooba Mufti refuses to raise Indian flag in presser

ISLAMABAD: Former chief minister of illegally-occupied Indian Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti launched scathing attacks at the Indian government in a press conference, refusing to raise the Indian flag until the occupied Kashmir flag "comes back".

“The people of J&K are expendable to them (Centre), what they want is territory. This country will run on the constitution, not on the BJP’s manifesto,” Mufti said on Friday, reported Indian Express.

Mufti, noting that the BJP-led government had "desecrated" the Indian constitution, said that she would struggle for the restoration of Article 370 and bring a final solution to the Kashmir issue.

“My flag is this (pointing to the J&K flag on the table). When this flag comes back, we’ll raise that flag (Tricolour) too. Until we get our own flag back, we won’t raise any other flag…This flag forged our relationship with that flag," the former IoJ&K chief minister said.

“Our relationship with the flag of this country is not independent of this flag (Jammu and Kashmir’s flag). When this flag comes in our hand, we will raise that flag too,” Mufti said.

Mufti was released earlier this month, after being illegally detained for over a year by authorities. She was heard saying in an audio message, "What they took away from us, we have to take it back".

"None of us can forget the insult and humiliation we faced on that day. And now we all have to remember what the federal government did on 5 August - illegally and undemocratically. What they took away from us, we have to take it back," she said in an audio message on Twitter.

Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, two former chief ministers of occupied Kashmir, were also detained by the Indian government. However, they were released earlier this year in March but thousands of Kashmiris continue to languish in jails.