Haseeb Drabu, J-K’s finance minister, sacked after saying Kashmir ‘not political’ issue

Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu resigned from his post after his comment that the dispute in the state was “not political” created a controversy.

india Updated: Mar 12, 2018 20:53 IST
Haseeb Drabu arrives to present Budget 2018-2019 in J&K Legislative Assembly during the budget session, in Jammu .
Haseeb Drabu arrives to present Budget 2018-2019 in J&K Legislative Assembly during the budget session, in Jammu .(PTI)

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti dropped finance minister Haseeb Drabu after his comment that the Kashmir dispute was “not political” created a controversy.

“Our party has an agenda which is supreme and there would be no compromise on that,” PDP vice president Sartaj Madni told Hindustan Times, confirming Drabu had been dropped.

“It (J&K) is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it, that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at in terms of how it is a society that is in search for itself,” Drabu was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper. Drabu, a leader of the state’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was speaking at an event called Kashmir: The Way Forward in New Delhi on March 9.

PDP vice-president Sartaj Madni, in a press statement on Sunday, had asked Drabu to “retract the statement immediately if it has been reported correctly in the media”.

“The party recognises Jammu and Kashmir as a political issue and ever since its emergence the party has relentlessly been pursuing its resolution through reconciliation and dialogue, both at internal and external levels,” said the statement.

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