Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday accused the BJP government of turning Kashmir into the infamous American military prison, Guantanamo, ahead of the G20 meeting.
The 3rd Tourism Working Group Meet, part of the G20 meeting, will be held from May 22-24 in Srinagar. Several human rights bodies including United Nations experts.
“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 home is being turned upside down,” the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader said at a news conference, reported The Indian Express.
She was in Bengaluru to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah.
The G20 meeting might give some kind of publicity for the BJP, but a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting can help address the problems of the region, she said.
China also opposed the tourism meeting in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir and will said they will not attend it.
On China opposing the G20 meeting in Kashmir, Mufti said that it was a consequence of abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.
“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.
“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,” the former J&K CM said.
