Rajouri/Jammu: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday hit back at Lt Governor Manoj Sinha over his remarks that previous governments in Jammu and Kashmir provided jobs to militants and their families, saying this “is not our tradition” but giving employment to “hooligans” might have been a custom in Uttar Pradesh.
“LG sahab has come from Uttar Pradesh and was probably speaking about his experience there. There might have been a tradition to provide jobs to mafia and hooligans in Uttar Pradesh but that is not our tradition,” the former chief minister said in Rajouri when asked by reporters about his statement at a function in Jammu on Monday.
Mehbooba also attacked the BJP, alleging it has created a fear psychosis in Jammu and Kashmir by making random arrests and is using the same policy in the rest of the country to silence the voice of the Opposition.
In a veiled attack on the National Conference (NC), the Congress and the PDP, Lt Governor (LG) Sinha on Monday had said previous governments had provided jobs to terrorists and their family members, while his administration has made the recruitment process transparent to ensure jobs are given to meritorious students only.
“What can they say who provided jobs to terrorists and their family members? They have no right to speak against the recruitment process when they have made one lakh back door appointments. The time has gone when the jobs were selling in shops,” the LG had said.
His comments came close on the heels of NC president Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba recently joining a candlelight vigil by job aspirants protesting against the hiring of a previously blacklisted company for conducting computer-based written tests.
Earlier addressing a public meeting in Rajouri, Mehbooba claimed that “Jammu and Kashmir is going through a very difficult phase and people are frightened to speak on any issue”. “Inflation has broken the back of people, unemployment is on the rise despite a promise by the BJP that it will create jobs for the youth after the abrogation of Article 370,” she said.
The government in 2019 had abrogated the article, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated in into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Seeking people’s support, Mehbooba said she can do nothing on her own. “You have to join me and strengthen my voice to safeguard our identity and culture, land and jobs, besides fighting oppression,” she said.
(PTI)

  Kashmir 370, Mehbooba Mufti

Press Trust of India