Srinagar, Sept 20: Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone launched a sharp attack on PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, accusing her of hypocrisy and political theatrics over her letter to the Union Home Minister seeking clemency for JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik.
Addressing a press briefing, Lone said his friendship with Malik went back to their college days, but clarified that his concern was not about personal loyalty but about exposing the “double standards” of Kashmir’s traditional political families.
Lone questioned the very basis of Mehbooba’s letter, pointing out that Malik himself had never filed an appeal and had instead narrated his story with courage. “So on whose advice has this mercy letter been written today?” he asked.
He reminded Mehbooba that even if Malik were released in this case, there were several other cases pending against him, including one in which a member of her own family had identified Malik.
“At that time they trapped him and today they shed tears. How long will this hypocrisy continue? when in power they send people to jails and gallows and when out of power they turn into mourners?”
Tracing the case to 2002, when Dr. Farooq Abdullah was Chief Minister, Lone said that cases were fabricated against Malik to derail peace efforts and to secure political legacies.
He said that with Musharraf and Vajpayee engaged in talks and rumors of Hurriyat joining electoral politics, mainstream leaders felt threatened.
“Both Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed feared the emergence of new players. To secure their own crowns, they started slapping false casesThis very case, in which the NIA now seeks the death penalty, was born out of that insecurity,” Lone said.
He called out the “selective morality” of both National Conference and PDP, accusing them of destroying lives when in power while posturing as defenders of human rights when out of it.
“Farooq Abdullah himself in 2019 publicly said he and Yasin Malik were on the same path. At that time, it was all about winning elections. And now, the punishment being demanded is in a case registered during his tenure,” Lone observed.
Directing his criticism at Mehbooba Mufti, Lone said, “Stop this drama. Both families must first seek forgiveness from the people of Kashmir before claiming to defend anyone on humanitarian grounds. As long as your hands are stained with false cases and blood, you have no moral right to use anyone’s sacrifice for political theatrics. You cannot both kill people and then cry over them.”
He further reminded Mehbooba of the arrest of cleric Sarjan Barkati in 2016 under her government, with 64 FIRs filed against him, yet today she cites his name for sympathy. “This is a mockery of all those in prison. If you cannot truly help them, at least do not make fun of their suffering,” Lone said.
Concluding his remarks, Lone warned that the people of Kashmir would no longer be deceived by this “all-rounder style of politics.”
“You cannot be both bowler and batsman at the same time. You cannot be on both sides,” he said, vowing to continue reminding Kashmiris of the past deeds of those now seeking moral high ground.(KNS)
