Summary Indian media went off the hook as the new Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir thanked Pakistan
LAHORE: (Web Desk) – As the newly elected Chief Minister of Indian Held Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed thanked Pakistan, ‘militants’ and Hurriyat leaders for allowing ‘peaceful elections’ in the state, Indian media went off the hook within no time. Almost immediately, there were cries for demanding an apology, calls for Mufti to step down and even suggestions to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break off from the alliance in Kashmir with the J&K People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and more.
Finally, Jammu and Kashmir has a pakistani chief minister #MuftiCreditsPak #MuftiThanksPak
— Ratul Chakraborty (@maxratul) March 2, 2015
For once I am with the opposition #MuftiThanksPak ......Would like PM @narendramodi to clarify on the subject....Let baap beti also listen!!
— Anjana Warrier (@warrier_anjana) March 2, 2015
#MuftiCreditsPak #MuftiThanksPak Mufti : I Stand by my statement. @narendramodi : I stand by my silence!
— Vijay S Mandore (@VijayMandore) March 2, 2015
BJP can t dissociates itself from J&K CM Mufti s Pakistan statement #MuftiCreditsPak or #MuftiThanksPak unless it breaks away from #PDP-BJP
— ICGupta (@SwachhPolitics) March 2, 2015
However, there were a few talking sense as well.
Looks like it is being blown up bigger than it actually is. Yes he was wrong, but lets not conclude things. #MuftiThanksPak
— BoomShankar (@IndianPyjama) March 2, 2015
Although such statements remain unheard of in India, what Mufti had actually said was nothing but a simple admittance of facts and that too with an Indian perspective. For example, his statement that militants and Pakistan allowed elections to be held in Kashmir was nothing but an allegation on Pakistan that it supported militants in sabotaging elections in Kashmir in the past but abstained this time.
The exact statement by the CM Jammu and Kashmir, as quoted by Indian newspaper Economic Times read, “I want to say this on record and I have told this to the Prime Minister (also) that we must credit Hurriyat, Pakistan, militant outfits for the conduct of assembly elections. God forbid if they would have done something, it would not have been possible to have smooth conduct of the elections. People from across the border made the atmosphere conducive. They also allowed the democratic process to continue in the state. This gives us a hope”
Indian media and general public made a massive fuss out of something that never went against the ‘Indian mantra on Kashmir issue’ that Pakistan supported militants, fighting for freedom in the valley. Parliamentarians in the center, especially from the Opposition, immediately started bashing the government for making an alliance with Mufti’s party in the first place though some of them asked the government and the Indian PM to make their position clear.
Former CM of Jammu and Kashmir, and now an Opposition politician, Omar Abdullah was quick to denounce the statement and asked the ruling Bharatia Janata Party (BJP) to tell Mufti that it were the security forces of the state and the polling staff that allowed ‘conducive atmosphere for elections’ and not Pakistan and militants. He went on to say that probably Mufti wanted to signal to the BJP government that he wanted to break off from the alliance.
Dear @BJP4India please explain roll of security forces & polling staff considering your CM just said "Pakistan allowed elections in J&K".
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 1, 2015
However, Mufti Sayeed’s daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, bluntly supported her father’s statement and told the Indian media to learn more about Kashmir and its politics. In her interview to Barkha Dutt of NDTV India, she said that her father had always wanted better ties with Pakistan and wanted the borders to become irrelevant. Though she said that her father “wanted the borders to be softened only for the Kashmiris to see the conditions of Kashmiris living on the other side of the border and thank India for what it provided them” yet she was not at all apologetic for her father’s statements.
Mehbooba also asked the Indian media to provide better atmosphere for BJP and PDP to get accustomed to each other and also invited senior Indian journalists to Kashmir so that they could better comprehend what CM said in light of the prevailing situation in the valley.
