Mehbooba Mufti's 'pigeons before cat' remark sparks off controversy

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, on Saturday stoked a new controversy while speaking in the state assembly on the rehabilitation process of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and other migrants. Mufti said that she will not throw Kashmiri Pandits like ‘pigeons before the cat’.

Defending the government’s decision to set up ‘transit colonies’ for the returnees she said they will stay in these settlements for some time and then decide where to live in the Valley permanently.

“These are not going to be any Israel type settlements,” the Chief Minister asserted adding “These will be composite housing colonies where half will be Kashmiri Pandits and half Muslims and other faiths.”

Opposition National Conference (NC) took a strong exception to Mufti’s ‘pigeons before the cat’ remark and said the Chief Minister owed an apology to the people of Kashmir for demonizing and defaming them through her contemptuous and highly inappropriate analogy.

 “She has defamed and demonized Kashmiris by inferring that Kashmiris are allegedly some sort of killers and hunters and Kashmiri Pandits are unsafe in their company and hence need to be isolated from them. It’s tragic that a Chief Minister could stoop to this level in her maiden address in the Assembly”, NC spokesperson Junaid Mattu said in a statement issued here.

 He added, “Mehbooba Mufti should know that her ‘hunted versus hunter’ analogy has exposed her mindset and also her prejudiced outlook on the sensitive issue. She has portrayed Kashmiris as killers from whom Kashmiri Pandits need to be protected. She should apologize to the people for her remarks and also bear in mind that she is no longer an election campaigner who can afford to distort the truth and lie at will”.

The NC spokesman said that Mufti is the Chief Minister of the State and “we expect a basic amount of wisdom and restraint from her”. He also said that Ms. Mufti should know that both Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits have been the victims of violence and she cannot portray an entire community as culprits and demons. “This is extremely regrettable and tragic on her part”, he said.

Earlier speaking in the Assembly, the Chief Minister sought to clarify that the transit accommodations the government has planned to set up in the Valley will not be exclusively meant for Kashmiri Pandits. She, however, asserted that the social fabric of Kashmir is incomplete without its Pandit population.

“We’ve a comprehensive policy for return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit community and many of our brethren have taken benefit from it,” she said, adding that an enabling environment will facilitate a gradual return of the community to the Valley.

 The Chief Minister said the Kashmiri Pandits, who want to return to the Valley will be provided transit accommodation till they are able to resettle at the native place. “We can’t force them to go back to their native places and put their lives to risk,” she said. "The proposal of building transit accommodations for Pandits has been approved by (Prime Minister's) working groups (on J&K). We have migrants from different faiths including Muslims and Sikhs living in Jammu and 50 percent of these transit accommodations will be reserved for people of other faiths," she reiterated.

She also said that the PDP-BJP government is committed to the return of the Kashmiri Pandits. "I will bring them back with your help,” she said.

 The Chief Minister said the proposal for developing a Sainik Colony in the state was mooted in 2011. She said although the Sainik Colony was proposed to be established only for the state subject ex-servicemen, however, owing to non-availability of land there has been no movement forward on the issue. "The Sainik colony is meant for the ex-servicemen state subjects. The society under which the colony is being proposed was inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1975. The National Conference-Congress government held many meetings with the Governor between 2011 and 2014 for the establishment on Sainik Colony. Now the Governor has again called for land identification. “But we have categorically told them that there is no land available at present," she said.

 Mufti said the state government is taking tangible measures to address the issues of PoK refugees and some progress has already been made in this regard. The government will focus on rehabilitation of militants who crossed the Line of Control for arms training and are now willing to resume their normal lives, she added. "We are committed to give them their rights and restore their dignity and honour," she said.