While sharing a purpoted video of a protest in Shopian village against alleged “takeover of an orchard for a railway project”, Mehbooba said that building railway lines through Kashmir without taking ecological impact into consideration was fraught with dire consequences
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday urged the government to avoid chopping of fruit orchards and “haphazard” laying on railway line in Kashmir. She said that environmental experts should be discussed in such projects.
While sharing a purpoted video of a protest in Shopian village against alleged “takeover of an orchard for a railway project”, Mehbooba said that building railway lines through Kashmir without taking ecological impact into consideration was fraught with dire consequences.
“In this case, the proposed railway line will necessitate the felling of apple orchards at Shopian. Request lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to involve a panel of environmental experts before taking such major decisions,” she said.
During the press conference, Mehbooba said that the ecosystem of Valley was fragile.
“Our economy depends on agriculture and fruit industry, and without giving a thought, you lay a railway line through villages and chop thousands of trees, which are our economy’s backbone. This should not be done like this and experts should be involved. Laying a railway line is right, but cutting trees through every village and damaging the environment should be avoided,” she said.
She added that impact assessment should be made for the project. “God forbid our situation should not be like that of Uttarakhand, where they made roads and fell thousands of trees. Now you see that every year, there are flash floods. Kashmir is more fragile than that and this type of railway line should not be laid with eyes shut. There should be an assessment of its impact on our environment and orchards, and we should not face losses,” she said.
People should use their votes sensibly to respond to laws like CAA: PDP chief
Mehbooba appealed to the people of the country to use their votes sensibly to respond to laws like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and not fall into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s trap by acting in rage.
Talking to reporters at the party headquarters in Srinagar, Mehbooba claimed that the CAA was notified to “divert” attention from the “failures” of the BJP.
“To divert attention from its failures in the last 10 years on various fronts like unemployment, youngsters committing suicide, the farmers’ plight, price rise and all those issues that take the country 1,000 years back rather than forward, attempts are being made to somehow cause Hindu-Muslim clashes and make people come out on the streets,” Mehbooba said.
She accused the BJP of using every ploy to start communal clashes in the country.
“They demolished mosques, went looking for idols in every mosque, demolished madrasas and houses of people like the rat-hole miner, they are disrespecting and kicking namazis, they have tried every ploy. When they saw that Muslims were still not coming out on the roads the way they wanted so that communal clashes broke out, they have used their last ploy (CAA),” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
She appealed to the people of the country, especially Muslims, to remain calm and not fall prey into the BJP’s hands.
“The Shaheen Bagh protests (against the CAA in New Delhi) were peaceful but many youngsters are still in jails without bail. I can only appeal to all our Hindu brethren and, especially Muslims, not to fall in their trap. There is no need to come out on the roads yet,” Mehbooba said.
She said it was time to respond through the vote.
“Senior people from the (Muslim) community have taken the legal recourse and it is a matter of happiness that for some time now, the court decisions have been in favour of the people. It is time to respond through your vote. People should use their votes in a right manner so that if tomorrow, you have to raise your voice against any law, then you can,” Mufti said.
She alleged that the CAA is essentially a law to target Muslims.
“The most beautiful thing about this country is its democracy, which they are trying to end, and its Constitution, which they are trying to subvert. Otherwise, you cannot make a law in the name of religion. The CAA is essentially a law to target Muslims.
“I appeal to people, especially Muslims, not to fall into this trap and use their votes sensibly and then, there is a need to fight this legally. Do not act in rage,” Mufti said. Source
