Srinagar, 1 August: A counter press conference by the Peoples Conference [PC] chief Sajad Gani Lone held on 31 July, a Friday, was a sharp political diatribe against the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party [PDP].
Sajad Lone was angry, spewing fire and spitting venom against Mehbooba Mufti, whom he referred to as “pellet queen” and the “daughter of India’s former Home Minister”.
Lone alleged the PDP itself was a “creation of the agencies” in 1999-2000, and, therefore, whenever any worker or leader quits the party, Mehbooba Mufti thinks “it could be the handiwork of the agencies”.
The PC chief was responding to the allegations levelled by the PDP a day before, on 30 July, that the Sajad Lone-led PC was “weaponising Central agencies such as the NIA, IB, CBI and ED to intimidate the PDP leaders and coerce them to leave the party to join the PC”.
Lone slammed the PDP in these words: “Your father was India’s Home Minister. All agencies would report to him. You [Mehbooba Mufti] are the daughter of Union Home Minister. I’m not scared of you, go and report to whoever you wish to. I’m here on my own terms.”
The visibly angry PC chief alleged that the PDP was formed when politicians from the National Conference and the Peoples Conference were made to join the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led party at the time in 1999-2000 under duress.
He accused Mehbooba Mufti of “deflecting attention from core issues”.
“So you are saying the son of a separatist is threatening the daughter of a former Union Home Minister,” Sajad asked sarcastically, adding: “I’d request Mehbooba Mufti to offer an unconditional apology for her ‘Banta Hai’ remark (at Jantar Mantar on July 23, Mehbooba had suggested that pellet-gun use against protesters in Kashmir was justified—”banta hai”—because they included militants, drawing accusations that she was branding ordinary Kashmiri youth as militants. She later clarified in Srinagar that she had meant to say “bahana banta hai”—that security forces “get an excuse” to use force citing militancy—but had dropped the word “bahana” [pretext] in the rush of back-to-back media interactions, and expressed regret for the resulting “incomplete statement.”
The PC chief was in no mood whatsoever to accept Mehbooba Mufti’s clarification during a press conference a day earlier.
“Mehbooba Mufti cannot deflect attention from the real issues. Our party’s leaders would daily demand an unconditional apology from Mehbooba Mufti over the remark,” Sajad Lone asserted.
On 30 July, the PDP’s Yasir Reshi and PC’s Ishfaq Gilkar exchanged non-stop invective during the phone call, threatening each other with dire consequences. Reshi is organising secretary of the PDP and formerly a Member of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council (MLC). Gilkar is a spokesperson of the PC.
The PC chief argued that, unlike the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which brought in new faces in New Delhi, the PDP was formed by drawing away people from the PC and other political groups.
“There are political parties in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Only one political party, the PDP, keeps saying 24/7 that the agencies are breaking it,” Sajad Lone added.
Earlier, senior PDP leader and MLA Pulwama Waheed Parra had claimed that at least 40 leaders of his party, including “13 MLAs, have been forced to leave the PDP since August 2019. I was arrested by the NIA soon after I filed my nomination as a DDC [District Development Council] candidate. I am not a separatist and have done nothing against the interests of the Indian state, and yet I faced an unimaginable ordeal.”
