Farooq calls Gupkar Declaration meeting on October 15, Mehbooba to attend

SRINAGAR: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and his son, party vice-president Omar Abdullah, called on PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti at her residence on Wednesday and invited her to a meeting of the signatories to the Gupkar Declaration at Dr Abdullah’s residence on Thursday.
Mufti “has kindly accepted Farooq Sb’s invitation” for Thursday afternoon, Omar Abdullah, himself an ex-CM, tweeted.
Mehbooba Mufti had been released late Tuesday might after over 14 months in detention under the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978. The Gupkar Declaration, issued after an all-party meeting on August 4, 2019, a day before the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and split the state into two Union Territories, resolves to defend J&K’s special status. It was passed by the NC, PDP, Peoples Conference and some smaller parties. The signatories met again on August 22 this year and vowed to fight for the restoration of J&K’s special status as it existed pre-August 5, 2019, saying the measures taken were “spitefully shortsighted” and “grossly unconstitutional”.
Mufti, responding on Twitter to Omar’s message, said, “It was nice of you (Omar) & Farooq sahib to come home. It gave me courage listening to him. I’m sure together we all can change things for the better.”
BJP, meanwhile, said the three ex-CMs were out to “stoke trouble in the Valley”. BJP J&K chief Ravinder Raina claimed the Gupkar Declaration was “anti-national” and “Pakistan-sponsored”. He said the Abdullahs and Mehbooba Mufti have, during a fresh meeting, decided to carry forward the mission of the Gupkar Declaration, which BJP will never allow. “Politicians like the Abdullahs and Mehbooba Mufti are trying to cover up their crimes. Under the garb of the Gupkar Declaration, they are planning to stoke trouble in the valley. BJP wants to make it clear here that whosoever tries to create disorder won’t be left unpunished,” Ravinder Raina warned. Apni Party, too, opposes the declaration.
Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, said on Wednesday that the government’s decision to free her mother had been unexpected. “I think after I went to the court with a fresh petition the government might have felt a sense of shame and embarrassment and released her,” Iltija said. She had filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court earlier this month seeking the release of her mother, but the government in its reply had cited the “geopolitical position of Jammu and Kashmir”, “its geographical proximity with Pakistan” and “Mehbooba’s glorifying militant statements” for the continuation of her detention.