Opposition parties are gunning for Mehbooba Mufti, and have called her to quit as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, just after she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the situation in the state on Monday, April 24.
Turmoil in J&K
J&K has been on the boil for quite some time now. The situation was exacerbated by clashes between protesters and security forces during the Srinagar Lok Sabha Assembly by-election on April 9. At least eight people died in police action that day, and more violence followed. Repolling in some booths did not make much of a difference.
The Election Commission (EC) subsequently deferred the Anantnag Lok Sabha bypolls, amid reports that several electronic voting machines were stolen during the Srinagar elections. Congress candidate in the Anantnag polls, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, had told IBTimes India back then that he would pull out of all elections in light of the bypoll being cancelled.
Now, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has met Modi over the issue, and said after the meeting that the situation should improve in "two-three months."
'Mehbooba should go'
The Opposition parties, however, are not all that confident. Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Monday: "There will be no peace in J&K as long as the BJP-PDP government is in power. Governor's rule is never a solution. They [the government] should change their ways."
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, however, took a softer stand. He said: "The prime minister's appeal [to Kashmiris for peace] is only on paper. Kashmiri students have been beaten many times. This government needs to implement laws and provide security."
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who won the aforementioned Srinagar bypoll, told reporters: "The Central and state governments should not wait for a conducive atmosphere, talk now. Talk to stakeholders and to Pakistan even if you are bitter with them."
His son and another former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has already called for Mufti to resign. He then said in a tweet in the early hours of Monday: "Before Mehbooba Mufti goes about inviting other chief ministers to organise events in J&K, how about getting her government to organise the Anantnag Lok Sabha bypolls?"
