by Muslim Mirror Staff

Mehbooba Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has accused the Indian government of transforming Kashmir into a comparable environment to the infamous American military detention facility, Guantanamo Bay. Mufti made this statement in anticipation of the G20 meeting scheduled to take place from May 22-24.

“To tell you the truth, if you visit Kashmir today you will see that the place which was converted to an open-air prison (following the abrogation of Article 370) has been converted to ‘Guantanamo’… Even houses have been taken over. Homes have been taken over. There is three-, four-, five-tier security… Everything at homes is being turned upside down,” Mufti said at a news conference in Bengaluru Sunday.

Mufti said that the G20 meeting could provide publicity for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) would be more beneficial in addressing the issues of the region. “Why not have a SAARC summit and address the problems we (the people of Kashmir) have?” the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader questioned.

#WATCH | Bengaluru: …" G20 is an event for the country but BJP has hijacked it, they have even replaced the logo with Lotus, the logo should have been something related to the country, not a party…it is the SAARC that will establish the leadership of our country within this… pic.twitter.com/UPzCXqe94B

— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2023

She said that China’s opposition to holding the G20 meeting in Kashmir is a direct result of the Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“The BJP said that the abrogation of Article 370 would solve all problems. Now, even China is putting its foot here in a bad manner. They are talking about the Kashmir dispute which only Pakistan used to talk about earlier. It goes to the credit of the BJP for bringing China into the problem,” she said.

Mufti commented that the recent ordinance issued by the Indian government, which overturned a Supreme Court verdict empowering the Delhi government, should serve as a wake-up call for everyone.

“2019 (Abrogation of Article 370) should have been a wake-up call. Unfortunately, it was not. But what happened yesterday (in Delhi) should be a wake-up call for everybody,” she said.

She added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not hesitate to take action against any opposition government that did not comply with its agenda.

She alleged that the BJP was engaging in the practice of buying or threatening Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

“Wherever the BJP cannot do that, they have found a different way of disempowering them. This is going to happen to everybody… I hope everybody wakes up and smells the coffee. Because, what happened with J&K, slowly and steadily is going around the whole country. It is going to increase its pace once elections approach,” she said.