Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday that youth "were rising in protests" because they were "confronting the raw truth that the system has failed their hopes and aspirations". Mufti said on X, “From Uttarakhand to Ladakh & across the border in Kashmir Gen Z is rising.
Because when your future feels bleak & your dreams are shattered - resistance knows no borders. These are young people who toiled for a future studied hard, followed every rule and held on to a ray of hope.
But now they see the promise of that future slipping away. They aren’t just protesting. They are confronting power with raw truth because the very system they were told to believe in has failed them catastrophically."
“This isn’t just noise. It’s heartbreak turning into resistance. This is not a rebellion but a cry for survival. They are not asking anymore. They are demanding what’s rightfully theirs - Accountability. Justice.
Opportunity. Dignity. It’s a wake up call for our country India, and even neighbouring Pakistan,” she added. Mufti also posted some videos of protests for ‘Azadi’, which, according to her, is a wake-up call for both India and Pakistan.
The PDP president has been highly critical of both the J&K government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Central government headed. While she joins the chorus with the ruling National Conference (NC) for statehood, for slashing down reservations, etc., she also blames Omar Abdullah for heading what she calls a ‘powerless elected government’.
She severely criticises the BJP and its leaders for their approach to the issues facing the country. Her father late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition government after the 2014 elections in J&K.
After Sayeed’s death, Mehbooba Mufti continued the ruling coalition with the BJP till the latter decided to pull out of the coalition government in June 2018. The PDP fought the 2024 Assembly elections and barely managed to win three seats, in contrast to 28 the party had in the 2014 elections in the J&K Assembly.
Many of her former party colleagues/ministers have left the PDP, and Mufti has been, for the last seven years, trying hard to consolidate her party.