"I was raised in Kashmiri Pandits' homes, have idea about their trauma": Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 19 : Appealing to the Kashmiri Pandit community to vote for her in the Lok Sabha elections, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that she has an idea about the trauma Kashmiri Pandit community had to face in the early 1990 insurgency that led to the mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.
Mehbooba Mufti said that her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, always ensured that relationship between majority and minority communities must be maintained in Jammu and Kashmir.
Holding a public meeting with Kashmiri Pandits community, Mufti said, "I understand your pain. I have an idea of how older people might feel when they miss Kashmir. The beginning of the pain was from our house. We also have faced a lot. My father thought that the relationship between majority and minority must be maintained. This is the reason he made a lot of effort when he became the CM. I was raised in Kashmiri Pandits' homes. I understand how important it is for all of us to live together."
"I know the trauma of Kashmiri Pandits, as they want to come back to their homeland. Mufti Sahab was very saddened by what happened to Kashmiri pandits," she added.
Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. Voting in the constituency will be held on May 25.
On the healthy voting percentage in Jammu and Kashmir in the first four phases, Mufti said that people are voting in large numbers as they are expressing their anger against the Centre for abrogating Article 370.
"I have come here to request that you kindly give me your vote. A large number of people are casting their vote this time because they are expressing their anger against what was done in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370," he said.
Reacting to the killing of former Sarpanch, Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh in Shopian and the attack on a couple in Anantnag, Mehbooba Mufti called it "delebrate negligence" of the government.
"Yesterday, there were attacks in Shopian and Anantnag, Home Minister came few days ago. Why these attacks? No security is in place. Maybe they want that there should be less voter turnout," she said.
Earlier today, PDP leader Iltija Mufti also targeted the Centre over the attacks on civilians, saying that the government is scared of the increased voting percentage. She said that the government is trying to rig the elections.
"The chronology needs to be understood. The polling percentage in Srinagar was very high, Seeing this, the government got scared and they are trying their level best to create panic in the hearts of the people of Anantnag. On the one hand, they say there is normalcy, no militancy suddenly, these kinds of incidents are happening. They want democracy to be accepted only when their candidates get elected. They are trying to rig the elections," she said.
BJP Jammu and Kashmir President Ravinder Raina lashed out at Pakistan a day after a BJP worker and a former Sarpanch, Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, was killed in a terrorist attack in Shopian district, saying that the coward terrorists of the neighbouring country have spilled blood here.
"The coward terrorists of Pakistan have spilled blood in Kashmir. Kashmiriyat has been murdered. The merciless killing of party worker Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh is the murder of humanity. The perpetrators of this terrorist attack would be dealt with as per law and God will also not spare them," Raina said in an emotional video message on Sunday.
Earlier, a former BJP Sarpanch, Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh was killed, and a couple from Jaipur were injured in two separate incidents of firing by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian and Anantnag districts, respectively, late on Saturday night.
In the second incident, a couple from Jaipur was injured in the Yannar area of South Kashmir's Anantnag district.The police stated that the terrorists fired upon and injured a lady, Farha, a resident of Jaipur, and her spouse, Tabrez, at Yannar in Anantnag. The injured were evacuated and taken to the hospital for treatment. According to sources, the condition of the injured couple is stable.