Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday described her sister Rubaiya Sayeed’s recent identification of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik as her abductor in the 1989 kidnapping case as “doing her duty as per the law”.
“She [Ms. Sayeed] was called as a witness to identify someone in the case. Yasin Malik has been in the public domain for a long time, so it was easy for her to identify him. Thirty two years is a long time and people tend to forget a lot of things. But it was easy to identify Malik,” Ms. Mufti.
Ms. Mufti’s sister was abducted by members of the JKLF in the December of 1989 when she was returning home from a medical college where she was pursuing MBBS. Five militants were later released in exchange for the release of Ms. Sayeed. Her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was then a Union minister.
However, Ms. Mufti said her sister “was not able to identity anyone else”. The statement is in contrast to the government advocates who claimed Ms. Sayeed identified five abductors, including Malik, in the court hearing the case in Jammu on July 15 this year.
“Rubaiya could not identify the other people, as 32 years is a long time. She only did her duty as per the law,” Ms. Mufti said.
On the Kashmir issue, Ms. Mufti said dialogue is the only way forward. “Militancy is sponsored by Pakistan. Dialogue has to be initiated with Pakistan to curb it. In fact, a dialogue has to be initiated with all the stakeholders to resolve the Kashmir issue and to stop bloodshed here. Through violence and guns, we cannot resolve anything,” she added.
Ms. Mufti described the Kashmir issue as “bigger than the restoration of Article 370”. “We will continue to fight for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue,” Ms. Mufti said.
