Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday criticized the resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for restoration of the region’s special status, calling it a “half-hearted” effort that lacked a strong condemnation of the abrogation of Article 370. Mufti remarked that the resolution, introduced by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, should have more explicitly condemned the August 5, 2019 move that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.
“The language of this resolution could have been much stronger. It makes no mention of the illegality of abrogating Article 370,” Mufti said to reporters. “They talk about dialogue with the Union government, but what exactly is this dialogue for? There should be no doubt that what happened on August 5 was wrong. I would say this was a half-hearted attempt.”
The Assembly’s resolution calls for a dialogue between the Centre and J&K’s elected representatives to discuss restoring special status, a proposal Mufti finds insufficient. She described the lack of explicit condemnation as “sad,” adding, “There is a need to correct the language of this resolution, and the PDP will work to do that.”
Mufti further claimed that the ruling National Conference (NC) only introduced the resolution in response to the PDP’s move on the first day of the session to push for special status restoration. “They have introduced this resolution because the PDP did it first,” she said. However, she dismissed any notion of competition for political credit. “It’s not about ‘credit or debit’—we made a commitment to the people, and we acted on it. Perhaps the NC did it under pressure.”
Addressing the importance of principles over numbers in the Assembly, Mufti concluded, “What matters is the honesty in what you promise and what you do. The PDP has shown that sincerity is what truly counts.”