SRINAGAR: The chief spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party Rafi Ahmad Mir on Tuesday hit back at Karan Singh, saying the party risked its political interests to safeguard the secular fabric of the state.
Singh, who is a member of Congress party, had said that PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti was trying to break up Jammu.
In a statement, Mir said PDP is the only party which has reached out actually to all the communities and regions of the State in order to safeguard its secular fabric and in the process risked its own political interests.
“Dr Karan Singh has been a major player in the affairs of the state at very crucial junctures of its history and it is expected of him to be fair and objective and not be uninformed about PDP’s mission to strike stronger bonds between Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh regions,” said Mir, in the statement.
He said, in order to respect the mandate of the people of Jammu in the last elections, PDP went against all advice and stood by the decision of its founder and inspiration Mufti Mohammed Sayeed till the last but unfortunately without reciprocation from the other side.
Mir said pleading for empowerment of the backward areas of any region is not communal.
“The PDP has been a pioneer of empowering Ladakh and creating Hill Development Council for Kargil but it never attracted the criticism of being communal. When we talk of giving similar treatment to Pir Panjal and Chenab regions, why should a leader of the stature of Dr. Singh smell the rat,” asked Mir.
In all the three regions, Ladakh, Pir Panjal and Chenab, the population spread is a mixed representation of people of different faiths.
“If it is not breaking up one region why should it amount to the same now in these regions of Pir Panjal and Chenab,” he asked.
Mir said the PDP will continue to follow the roadmap for equitable development of the State that has been laid down by its founder Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and its special focus will be on backward areas of Ladakh, Mir Panjal and Chenab, where people still have to travel long distances on foot and have to face climatic and topographical odds.