Without naming Pakistan, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister once again advocated for dialogue

New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday (April 29, 2022) questioned the working of security forces in the union territory and asked what are ten lakh Indian Army troops doing if they can't deal with 200 terrorists.

On being asked that the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists are continuously trying to attack security forces, Mehbooba said, "What is our ten-lakh army doing here? They (army) says only 100-150 terrorists are active, if they can't deal with them then what are we doing."

Without naming Pakistan, Mehbooba once again advocated for dialogue and said that there is no option without dialogue.

"No matter how much more Army you bring here and how much more people you put in jails, in the end, you must make dialogue," Mehbooba said.

She also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-Centre government over new land laws, loudspeaker, and bulldozer issues.

"Our country is based on a secular foundation and BJP is trying to tear apart the secular fabric of the country. Secularism is in our DNA. BJP is trying to tear apart the secular fabric, but DNA is going to be there," she said and added that the loudspeaker and bulldozer issues are part of that.

"BJP has nothing to give to people of the country they have no answer to inflation and unemployment so they want to divert people from those basic issues and are trying to create gaps between Hindu-Muslims," she alleged.

"They can't provide jobs or do anything about inflation. There is a crisis for electricity and water. So, the easiest thing to do is to pit Hindus-Muslims against each other, and talk about loudspeakers, hijab, and halal. If this continues, our situation in the future will be bad," the former Jammu and Kashmir CM added.

Mehbooba also endorsed the opinion of Omar Abdullah that the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) should fight elections together.