National Conference Friday said that PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s role in J&K’s history will be forever remembered as that of “opportunism, repression and subversion of democracy.”In a statement to KNS NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said that not only has Mufti Sayeed changed numerous political parties in his career but he has also ended up betraying everyone who gave him a platform and patronage right from Rajiv Gandhi to V. P. Singh.Addressing senior party workers at NC Headquarters at Nawa-e-Subha Complex in Srinagar, Sagar said that nothing could be more ironic and shameless than Mufti accusing anyone else of damaging democracy. “He started his political career with P. L. Handoo then went to Sadiq’s DNC and soon hopped over to Mir Qasim and sooner still ended up in Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad’s lap at a time when Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was languishing in jail because he stood up for the aspirations and dignity of our people. When Sher-e-Kashmir was in jail for safeguarding Article 370, Mufti Sayeed was busy following everyone who eroded the Article”, the NC General Secretary said.
Sagar said that Mufti lost two consecutive elections from Bijbehara with humiliating margins after National Conference came back and contested elections. “Then Mufti had to run away to R. S. Pura and eventually get politically rehabilitated in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and became the Home Minister of India in the Jan Morcha Government at a time when couldn’t even imagine being a simple MLA in Kashmir,” Sagar said.The NC General Secretary claimed that Mufti had played an instrumental part in all constitutional erosions and democratic subversions in J&K. “Mufti Sayeed has toppled more democratically elected governments in J&K than he has been a part of. This is a fact of history and not a mere accusation. Right from Mufti’s days in DNC to his servitude of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad – Mufti was a part of ever motley crew of opportunists that eroded Article 370, compromised on the State’s Internal Autonomy and disempowered the people of this State”, the NC General Secretary said.
“Then when Mufti became the Home Minister of India, he became the architect of State terror and unleashed hell on his own people. He lorded over heinous massacres like the GawKadal Massacre, the Mashali Mohalla massacre, the Handwara massacre and the Bijbehara massacre and also allowed the assassination of Shaheed Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq to happen so that he could derive political benefits from this tragic loss. As if the assassination of Mirwaiz wasn’t enough – Mufti even ordered troops to shoot on his funeral resulting in the loss of more than 70 innocent lives. Mufti’s partnership with the dreaded Governor Jagmohan will go down in history as one of the most brutal phases of repression and bloodshed in J&K”, Sagar alleged.
He said that Mufti’s sole aim in politics is hijacking the pain and misery of the people and exploiting it for the welfare of his family and relatives – most of whom constitute what PDP is today and other relatives yet who Mufti has given enormous political favors while in power in the State. “Mufti is not a recent occurrence as PDP wants the hapless people of J&K to believe. Mufti is there in J&K politics since 1957 and has played havoc with the State in various shapes and forms. He could not be loyal to anyone in politics – be it Sadiq, Qasim, Bakshi, Rajiv Gandhi, or V. P. Singh. He can never be a well-wisher for the State and harbors a long-cherished dream to weaken the State internally and seek political pidends for such a persistent sabotage”, the NC General Secretary further stated.