Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday that resolution of the crisis in Kashmir is a challenge before the entire country, not of Kashmir alone.
Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Kashmir - Changing The Discourse’ during the relaunch of Frontline magazine, a sister publication of The Hindu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader said that while polls in Kashmir are important, more urgent is the restoration of basic democratic rights of the people there.
“Several Kashmiri youth were taken away and put in jails outside Kashmir [in 2019]. Their families are so poor that they are not able to meet them, let alone fight these cases in court. Journalists have been arrested... Before elections, democratic rights should be restored,” she said during the discussion moderated by Frontline Editor Vaishna Roy.
