The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said that Mehbooba Mufti has been “rattled” by the low voter turnout in her perceived bastion of the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency and has therefore upped the ante as far as her anti-India tirade and pro-separatist agendas are concerned.
Brigadier Anil Gupta (Retd), State Spokesperson of BJP, in a statement alleged that in her quest to generate a sympathy wave Mehbooba Mufti was trying to emotionally exploit the local Kashmiris through “half-baked truth and spin-doctored statements”.
The party alleged that Mufti knows well the difference between international trade carried out at Wagah in Punjab and barter trade across the LoC in J&K and yet continues to mislead the Kashmiris through statements like “if trade via Wagah can continue, why not the cross-LoC trade?”
Since majority of the rural population in Kashmir does not know the difference between the two types of trade they get emotionally swayed and get carried away by her anti-India propaganda, the BJP said.
“As a responsible mainstream politician and ex-CM of the state Mufti should be explaining to the people the real intent of the government which is to curb terror funding so that the menace of terror can be eradicated from the Valley and peace restored for the benefit of common Kashmiri,” stated Gupta.
“The recent revelation of how the cross-LOC trade was being manipulated by the ISI through Pak-based Kashmiri terrorists belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) is an eye-opener and should enlighten the Kashmiris about the false and malicious propaganda being carried out by Mehbooba just for the sake of votes so that she can remain relevant in the corridors of power”, Gupta said.
The BJP spokesman alleged that while Mufti has a soft corner for terrorist turned separatist Yasin Malik and is threatening the Central government to release him, she has not uttered even a single word of condemnation against cold-blooded murders carried out by him of Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel and many Kashmiri Pundits.