Ehsan Fazili & Suhail A Shah

Tribune News Service

Anantnag, May 5

Defending her party’s alliance with the BJP, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the whole of India with all its people and parties in 1947 and not just to a single party.

Mehbooba hailed Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah for taking the decision to accede to India. “He took the decision to accede with the aim that while keeping our integrity intact, we should accede to a country which is secular and where people of all religions live in absolute harmony,” Mehbooba said. Substantiating her point, she referred to the ongoing conflicts and blood bath in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Pakistan where the majority of the people follow the same religion.

Mehbooba was addressing a public rally in Anantnag after flagging off the limited-stop train service between Banihal and Baramulla in Kashmir. She jointly flagged off with Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu (through videoconferencing) four new DEMU (Diesel Engine Mobile Unit) passenger trains between Banihal and Baramulla and Baramulla and Budgam. With the four new trains, the number of trains in Valley stands at 30. Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, some ministers and senior officials were also present on the occasion.

“Some people question our alliance with the BJP. But when in 1947 the state acceded to India, it acceded to the whole of India and not to a certain party,” Mehbooba said while addressing the gathering at Anantnag railway station.

“In Pakistan, terrorism has taken such menacing proportions that they have to resort to aerial bombarding. Every day 20 to 30 people are hanged in Pakistan,” she said. “We are now seeing how correct the decision to accede to India had been,” she added.

Mehbooba urged people to strengthen her hands to fulfil the dreams of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of keeping Kashmir’s integrity intact.

After flagging off the trains, the Chief Minister boarded the newly launched service and undertook the journey up to Baramulla. She also interacted with several schoolchildren who boarded the train at various stations.

On her arrival at Srinagar, the Chief Minister also flagged off five SRTC buses plying from Nowgam railway station to Lal Chowk. Two of these buses will be reserved for women passengers.

The train services began in Kashmir in October 2008, when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the first train between Anantnag and Mazhom in Kashmir. The rail service was later extended to Baramulla in north Kashmir and Qazigund in south Kashmir and also to Banihal across Pir Panjal in the Jammu region.