National Conference on Saturday condemned Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s comments that held Muslims and Islam culpable for the Pampore attack and said this was yet another instance where Mehbooba Mufti was feeding in to the bigoted ‘Islamic Terror’ narrative. “Mehbooba Mufti, while speaking to reporters after the wreath laying ceremony for the CRPF personnel martyred in Pampore, has said that she was ‘ashamed as a Muslim’ over the attack. This is the same Mehbooba Mufti who used to say that terror has no religion. Now suddenly she sees terror as an offshoot of Islam for which Muslims should be ashamed. This is shameful coming from a Chief Minister”, NC State Spokesperson Junaid Mattu said in a statement issued to KNS.Condemning the dastardly attack on the CRPF convoy, the NC Spokesperson expressed solidarity with the families of the martyred policemen and said violence in any shape is condemnable and unacceptable. “While our hearts go out to the families of the martyred CRPF personnel, we are shocked at the Chief Minister’s continued desperation to jump on the ‘Islamic Terror’ bandwagon. One wonders what her compulsions are but this is tragic. She’s either still trying to prove her loyalty to the RSS and VHP or she has pledged to assail Muslim societies, Muslims countries and Islam as a convenient medium of political empowerment”, the NC Spokesperson added.
“Mehbooba Mufti started this in Jammu in the presence of the Prime Minister where she publicly ridiculed, generalized and demeaned Muslims and Muslim societies for being unstable, undemocratic and sectarian in nature. Since then she has left no opportunity to hit out at Muslims and Islam and her recent comment equating the Pampore attack with Muslims and Islam is despicable and highly condemnable. She should think before she speaks”, the NC Spokesperson further added. The NC Spokesperson said earlier this month the Chief Minister’s “Cats and Pigeons” metaphor while speaking in the Legislative Assembly had defamed and stereotyped Kashmiris and also further widened the perception gap between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. “Unfortunately it seems like she is hell bent towards maligning Muslims in general and Kashmiri Muslims in particular and such absurd remarks not only hurt the sentiments of Muslims within the State but also portray them in a bad light to the rest of the country. She is fueling every single negative stereotype about Islam and Muslims and there seems to be a deliberate plan behind this tendency”, the NC Spokesperson said. (KNS)