Kupwara: Urging party cadre to put up a spirited peaceful fight for restoration of constitutional rights, former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said Jammu and Kashmir acceded and not merged with the Union of India.
Put up a spirited struggle for restoration of constitutional rights of the state that were taken away illegally and unconstitutionally on August 5, 2019 while continuing to advocate the resolution of the core issue of J&K through dialogue and reconciliation as envisioned by Party’s late founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, she said.
Addressing the first district level workers convention of the party after her release in the border district of Kupwara, Mehbooba asserted that PDP would use all peaceful, democratic and constitutionally accepted means to fight for restoration of special status and resolution of the issue of J&K underlining that the violent means have never yielded any good.
“We were robbed of our legitimate rights by means of a constitutional fraud and we would fight for their restoration by all peaceful and acceptable means. And in our struggle, we should not lose sight of the fact that not only have violent means not delivered ever but have even delegtimize the struggles that by peaceful means were all genuine and legitimate,” Mehbooba siad.
Reminding those trying to create a false equivalence of J&K with other states in the union of India, Mehbooba underlined that J&K had not merged but acceded to India with a promised special constitutional status.
“Ours was a special case where in a Muslim majority state acceded to a secular India and not merged with it subject to certain guarantees including a special constitutional status. But New Delhi trampled upon the very special status that formed the foundation of this accession. This was not only illegal and unconstitutional but unethical as well. But we are not ready to accept and normalize this betrayal. We would continue to fight till our rights are restored,” she added.
