National Conference in a statement issued from Srinagar has said that history is replete with proof and factual realities that prove that PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had played an active and unabashed role in the erosion of Article 370 and the erosion of Internal Autonomy in the State during his tenure in politics in various parties ranging from Congress to G. M. Sadiq's erstwhile DNC to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad's breakaway faction of saboteurs and to V. P. Singh's Jan Morcha.NC spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu has said that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had joined hands with every crony dispensation in J&K from late 1950s to 1975 that had an agenda of eroding Article 370. “Today shadow-boxers of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and PDP leaders have shown the remarkable audacity to blame National Conference for what Mufti Sayeed was overtly complicit in - be those the intrigues against Article 370 at the behest of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, at the behest of G. M. Sadiq or as a brutal, disastrous Home Minister in V. P. Singh's Jan Morcha who joined hands with BJP to send Jagmohan to the State as Governor. From his very foray into the politics of J&K, Mufti Sahab ensured that he was a part of every crony dispensation that was put in power in J&K to dilute and erode the State's special status. At a time when Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was incarcerated for his staunch ideological beliefs and primarily for his demands of safeguarding the State's Autonomy and asking New Delhi to respect the sentiments of the people of J&K, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was busy switching loyalties from to G. M. Sadiq to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad to Syed Mir Qasim to Congress and then to Jan Morcha,” Mattu said.
Mattu said that erosion to Article 370 was carried out between 1953 and 1975 during the engineered, undemocratic rule of proxies and cronies in J&K who were usable parts of an intrigue against Shere-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, against the National Conference and against the people of Jammu and Kashmir. "While these crony, undemocratic dispensations were busy eroding Article 370 Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was a perennial feature in all such intrigues against the State's special status. First Mufti Sahab got close to P. L. Handoo and then joined G. M. Sadiq's DNC and was appointed a District Convener by G. M. Sadiq. It was no secret and it is a testament of history that Sadiq was responsible for some of the gravest damage to Article 370 and the State's special status. Where was Mufti Sahab's concern for Article 370 when he was a part of a dispensation that eroded it? Was Article 370 bad then and good now? Has history not made it evidently clear that Mufti Sayeed's political posturing on such a sentimental and important issue depends on his ruthless personal political ambitions?,” Mattu asked.
Mattu said that Mufti Sayeed followed the DNC troupe when it joined hands with Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad - another figure who played an abominably devious and treacherous role in suppressing the people of this State, incarcerating its popular leaders and sabotaging democracy for his personal ambitions. "Mufti Sahab's loyalty to crony dispensations - be it to Sadiq or be it to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad - was primarily a derivative of his automatic opposition to Kashmiri Nationalism, Article 370 and the State's Special Status - causes for the defense of which National Conference Founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah spent more than two decades in various jails while Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was hopping from one intriguing band of conspirators in the State to another", Junaid Mattu added.
The National Conference Spokesman, while questioning PDP's hypocritical remarks on Article 370 reminded the party of their sabotage of the J&K Women's Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill in the Legislative Council, the changes that PDP made in the Transfer of Property Bill and their most recent tacit support to BJP candidates in Jammu region despite BJP stating its goal to abrogate Article 370 in its election manifesto. “PDP and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed have on numerous occasions demonstrated an uncanny tendency and willingness to barter the State's interests and special status in bits and pieces for either political patronage from anti-J&K lobbies or promises of being given power,” Mattu said.
Mattu has said that National Conference had opposed every overt and covert attempt made to erode and dilute Article 370 and the very fact that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah spent more than two decades in prison while Article 370 was eroded through political intrigues is enough of a vindication. “National Conference passed the Autonomy Resolution in the State Assembly in 2000 during the rule of Dr. Farooq Abdullah and the NDA chose to ignore the democratically representative resolution at that time.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah picked up from where Shere-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had left and ensured that the State Assembly unequivocally asks for the restoration of Internal Autonomy-a legal document that is in line with our ideology and stand. Our intentions to safeguard Article 370 and to strive for the restoration of Autonomy are clear and supported by our actions at every juncture of history-be that Sheikh Sahib's valiant struggles for his people or be that the fact that Dr. Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister of J&K got the Autonomy Resolution passed in the State Assembly in 2000", Mattu said while adding that National Conference would continue to stand up for upholding the rights and dignity of the people of J&K.