3 min readJammu And KashmirNov 2, 2026 04:42 PM ISTPeople's Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti during the Party Foundation Day celebration and Party Workers' Convention at Sher-i-kashmir Park, in Srinagar on Monday. Her daughter, Iltija Mufti also present. ( credit: ANI Photo)People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday trained her guns at the ruling National Conference, accusing it of being responsible for the mistrust between the Centre and Jammu & Kashmir.Addressing a party workers’ convention in Srinagar, Mufti said: “They don’t trust us, and we don’t trust them. Who is responsible for this climate of suspicion? India became independent 79 years ago, and that is when J&K acceded to India. My father did not take that decision; [NC founder] Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah did, even though this was a Muslim majority state.”Holding the NC responsible for the mistrust, she said the party had created uncertainty among Kashmiris through its shifting stances. “They said one thing one day and another the next day. They created a sense of uncertainty in the minds of Kashmiris. First, they said plebiscite, then Pakistan. Then, in 1975, you accepted the chair again,” she said.Sheikh Abdullah “buried” the conversation around autonomy when he traded the prime minister’s chair for that of chief minister, she alleged.The PDP, she claimed, was founded by her father, former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, “to give voice to the people”. “The party was born out of the need to end a certain suffocation like it exists today,” she said.Her father, she claimed, got former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to J&K. “He told him, ‘We don’t require roads and bridges, but their dignity’.”Without naming NC president Farooq Abdullah, she referred to his recent statements on Pakistan. The senior Abdullah, also a former chief minister, had said: “Pakistan goes everywhere, saying that Kashmir’s future has not yet been decided. Only that will save us”. This, Mufti said on Monday, was another sign to Delhi that “Kashmiris are with Pakistan”.Story continues below this adMufti also lashed out at the Centre. “J&K is the crown of India. If you remove that crown, toh phir tum mit jaoge, aur tumhari dastaan bhi na rahegi dastaanon mein (You will be wiped away from history),” she said.She also underscored that the issues in Kashmir cannot be resolved through the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Public Safety Act or the dismissal of employees from service. They can be resolved through dialogue and by reopening traditional trade routes — Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand. She also urged the Centre not to use force against Kashmiris. “How long will an iron fist? How long will you silence the people here?” she said.Hundreds of party workers gathered at Sher-e-Kashmir Park on Monday for one of the largest party conventions in recent years. Invoking Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the former chief minister urged party workers to speak up for themselves — “Bol ke lab azaad hain tere” — and implored them to buckle up and be future-ready.Naveed Iqbal is a Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, and reports from Jammu and Kashmir.... Read More