JK: Mehbooba vows to challenge Waqf bill in apex court

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that her party will challenge the recent Waqf bill amendment in the Supreme Court. She also came down heavily on the National Conference (NC) leadership, accusing them of double standards and complicity in allowing the amendment to pass unchallenged in the J&K Assembly.

Addressing a press conference, Mufti criticised NC leaders Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah for allegedly supporting the Centre’s move by extending a warm welcome to Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, who introduced the amendment in the Parliament. “Omar Abdullah was absent from the assembly when he should have stood up and opposed the bill, like the Tamil Nadu government did by declaring they wouldn’t implement it,” she said.

Mufti also accused NC MLAs of creating a drama in the Assembly by pretending to oppose the amendment, while behind the scenes, they supported it. She termed the events in the assembly and the reception of Rijiju at Tulip Garden as a “shameful” act.

She further alleged that the uproar in the assembly was a tactic to divert attention from three key bills introduced by PDP MLAs — one to regularise daily wagers, another to allocate land to the poor and the third to ban alcohol — which had received the lieutenant governor’s assent.

Mufti also questioned the BJP’s claim that the Waqf amendment was in the interest of Muslims, arguing that no consultations were held with the community. “If it was truly for Muslim welfare, there wouldn’t be attempts to usurp Muslim graveyards,” she asserted.