Will step down if chair becomes my weakness: CM

• ‘Sainik colonies only for state subjects, not for outsiders’
• ‘Committed to bring back Kashmiri Pandits to Valley’
• ‘Will set up transit accommodations for Pandits till they feel safe to return to their native places’
• ‘Self rule can set example for conflict resolution around the world’
• CM cites controversial past of NC to counter Omar’s tirade

Invoking her father’s vision for peaceful and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti Saturday said she won’t hesitate to step down if the chair becomes her weakness in this pursuit.
In her first address as Chief Minister in the Assembly, Mehbooba looked to allay the fears over various controversial issues, including Sainik Colonies and settlement of Kashmiri Pandits, in a point-by-point rebuttal of the opposition’s criticism.
The chief minister also pitched for her party’s self-rule formula to resolve Kashmir issue, seeking increased coopertion between India and Pakistan in the areas of security and disaster management.
“The chair will not be my weakness. I will continue in the chair till I feel it is my strength. If I feel it has become my weakness I will not continue.
“The commitments I have made which are part of Agenda of Alliance, if those Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) materialise well and good. If not what is a big deal…I have assumed this chair to fulfill the vision of my father,” Mehbooba said while replying to the motion of thanks to Governor’s address in the Assembly.
SELF RULE
Stating that the self rule document was endorsed by the working groups set up by former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh during the Congress-led government at the Centre, she said there was nothing anti-national in it for the opposition to threaten BJP.
“We have all signed it (working group recommendations). The joint mechanism was also discussed in these recommendations which envisaged 10 representatives from both the countries meeting twice every year. Self rule is not a sin that you will point fingers at BJP time and again on it,” she said during her 80-minute speech.
“It is in the benefit of Jammu and Kashmir, India, Pakistan and the subcontinent if the state prospers and there is peace. It can become an example for conflict resolution around the world,” Mehbooba said.
She said her father and former chief minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s vision was to see Jammu and Kashmir act as a bridge between India and Pakistan and that she was following his ideals.
Instead of constant flare up along the border, she said the roads should be opened between two parts of Kashmir for strengthening trade ties. “What is the objection if in exchange for Basmati we get the money from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
“The Congress-led UPA-II abandoned the reconciliation process started by our government between 2002 and 2005. All the confidence building measures were put on the back burner. When you were in power, you didn’t make any positive contribution to ease the sufferings in J&K. Give us some time and we will show you how to do it,” she said while addressing NC working president and Leader of Opposition (LoP), Omar Abdullah.
SAINIK COLONY
Castigating the opposition for attacking her government over allotment of land for settlement of the ex-servicemen in Sainik colonies, the chief minister said the colonies were meant for state subjects and not for outsiders.
“No land has been identified yet for establishing Sainik Colony. No direction has been issued for establishing it. The Sainik Board which is registered under an Act (of state assembly) has by-laws which say that land can only be alloted to state subjects. How can you (opposition) even talk about bringing in non-state subjects,” she said.
Mehbooba said the position of the government is that it does not have any land available in Srinagar, Pulwama and Budgam districts for setting up such a colony.
Mehbooba said she wants to put the speculation at rest over the Sainik Colony issue by clarifying that the government has already responded over the issue and stated that there was no land available.
She said the proposal for setting up Sainik colonies has been perused in the previous governments as well. Addressing Omar, she said he had himself chaired several meetings about the Sainik colonies as chief minister.
Mehbooba reminded Omar that he had given direction for identifying land for the purpose and since then there has been no decision on this. She said the last meeting on the issue was chaired by Governor N N Vohra, but no decision for the allotment of the land has been taken so far.
“The last meeting happened under Governor. I did not attend the meeting as I was not feeling well that day. He decided that since the land is not available in Srinagar, Army should be asked to identify land. But no decision about allotment was taken,” she added.
The Sainik Board came into being in 1965 and in 1975 a Sainik colony was inaugurated in Jammu city by then chief minister, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah.
She said the issue is being exploited for political gains. At this point, Omar interrupted the chief minister’s speech and said he had never mentioned that the state government was going to allot land to non-state subject ex-servicemen in the Valley.
“All I said was that you come clear on the issue,” Omar told her.
There has been growing opposition in the state over allotment of land for a Sainik colony and separatist leaders called for a strike against the move on Thursday.
RETURN OF KASHMIRI PANDITS
Mehbooba asserted that her government was committed to bring back Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir valley with dignity and would set up transit accommodations for them till they feel safe to return to their native places.
Rejecting claims of opposition parties and separatists that the government was setting up separate colonies for Kashmiri Pandits, she told the Assembly that the construction of transit accommodation was among recommendations made by the Prime Minister’s Working Group, formed in 2005, and it will be for Muslim and Sikh migrants too.
Mehhooba took a swipe at NC for “politicizing” the issue, questioning as to how pandits can be asked “to return to their native places when our political workers — be it from PDP, Congress, National Conference or any other party — are living under security in hotels in Srinagar”.
“Why don’t we tell them to return to their places? Because they don’t feel secure. Nobody raises questions why we have made a colony for them,” she said.
Mehbooba said her government was committed to setting up composite transit accommodation with basic facilities.
“This is a facility for migrants. Don’t we have Muslim migrants? Don’t we have migrants in Jammu? Are not there Sikhs and other people among them? If we are saying 50 per cent will be Kashmiri Pandits and the rest others, you are saying it is Israel-like situation,” she said.
Mehbooba said the migrants can return to their native places only when they feel secure enough. “They can go to Ganderbal, Pulwama or Baramulla after that,” she said.
The chief minister said it cannot be expected that the people who have left the Valley 25 years ago will straight away go back to their places.
“Some of them have forgotten the way to their homes. Some don’t even remember their homes. What kind of humanity is this? We all agree that migrants are part of our Kashmiriyat and they should return with dignity,” she said.
She urged upon the displaced community to take up jobs in the government institutions including AIIMS being set up in the state.
“I would request them to come back. They have such IQ. We have an AIIMS coming up. I would appeal to all Kashmiris — Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs — who are working in different hospitals outside the state to come back,” she said.
CM TAKES ON NC
Mehbooba said when Omar Abdullah took over as the chief minister of the state, the situation worsened while as in the previous PDP-Congress government separatists were holding public meetings alongside the mainstream politicians. She, however, said that situation has now deteriorated to such an extent that the security scenario in Kashmir has been beefed up and separatists put under house detention.
Mehbooba said there was no threat to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and asked NC to refrain from misleading the people over its erosion or the settlement of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) or the holding of the NEET test.
Talking about the opposition criticism on holding of the NEET exam for selection to MBBS, BDS and post graduate courses, the chief minister said, “The guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI) are very much implemented in Jammu and Kashmir since 1964.
“Is it that you (opposition parties) don’t trust your own children (Kashmiri boys and girls) to compete at the national level?”
She said unlike NC founder Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah who “vacillated for years and even promised people about holding referendum” PDP has stood for strengthening democratic institutions in the state.
Mehbooba said aligning with the BJP was not a bigger decision “than the one taken by the tallest leader of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, who supported accession of the only Muslim majority state with India in 1947.”
The chief minister referred to the rigging of elections in 1987, saying that it was due to threats issued by NC to the MUF contestants that militancy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba said she has a clear vision of keeping the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh united. “If PDP had joined hands with other political parties like National Conference and Congress, and kept the BJP out of the government, the situation in the state could have turned ugly. Our state would have been torn apart.”
“We could not have stayed together, had we disrespected Jammu’s mandate. Syed Ali Geelani and Abdul Gani Lone were part of this House but they chose a different path because of the attempts made to disrespect the mandate of people,” she said.
The chief minister took a dig at National Conference for “doing nothing” when the autonomy resolution was rejected by Government of India and seeking no assurance from New Delhi about the erosion of the special status when Omar was a Minister in the NDA government.
Besides pursuing return of power projects from National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), Mehbooba said PDP has sought assurance from BJP against any further erosion of state’s special status in the Agenda of Alliance.
AFSPA REPEAL
On the question of repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), she said, “I am running the government as per my father’s (late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) vision and it is clear that the chair is not my weakness. I am working on the agenda of the alliance and it takes time in completion. The agenda also includes removal of AFSPA, but it will take time.”
Mehbooba said the PDP-BJP government is committed for sustainable peace and development in J&K and also announced that orders have been issued for setting up of two AIIMS in Samba (Jammu) and Awantipora (Kashmir) and money has also been released for the working of detailed project reports (DPRs) for the smart cities of Srinagar and Jammu.