Article 370 is not a separatist slogan.
Mehbooba Mufti
My father would always say Kashmiris have made so much sacrifice to achieve something more, but we have a constitution, special status and a flag, and our foremost duty is to protect what we have.
Once you start choking the space for dissent in a democracy, people feel pushed to the wall and then it leads to further dissent and alienation.
You cannot imprison an idea. You have to fight it with a better idea.
Over last 30 odd years, Kashmir has seen many highs and lows when looked at from the perspective of the security scenario, infiltrations and militancy on the ground.
You know in democracy you can protest peacefully and I'm sure you know it will have at least some kind of impact. You need to raise your voice. If you can't do much, you know, but at least raise you voice. Raising your voice is something you need to do.
But when I entered politics, I found that this was the space that could be used for making lives of people better.
Mufti sahab, apart from being my father, was one of the tallest leaders of the state and the country.
I'm not as large hearted as my father.
It is part of our political thinking that democracy is a battle of ideas.
The issue of Kashmir is both political and emotional in nature. Any pragmatic and lasting solution needs India and Pakistan sitting together on a table and discussing a solution that addresses the aspirations of Kashmiris and does not compromise the territorial integrity of either India or Pakistan.
Why is the government of India uncomfortable with Jamaat-e-Islami? It is an organisation that has worked tirelessly for Kashmiris.
Time and again I was asked to arrest Jamaat activists but I put my foot down and refused to cave in.
India is the world's largest democracy and everyone should have a right to voice their opinions.
I strongly feel that there has to be a dialogue process internally as well as externally, with Pakistan.
I am a full-time political worker.
Elections come and go, people win and lose, that is part of politics. It doesn't anyway change things on the ground.
If any party fights the election on the basis of religion, it will not succeed.
Our party's agenda is not only to form a government, but also to facilitate a political process.
My father was not in power when I started my political career, or when I fought my first election in 1996. Starting like any ordinary person, I reached out to people everywhere.
Democracy is about electoral competition.
Kashmir aligned with India under certain conditions. Article 35A is part and parcel of this relationship.
In fact, when I fought the 1996 election, being Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter, it has its own plus and minus, so I told my father, 'please don't come for campaigning with me'.
People hold my father in very high esteem, but what was amazing was that nobody looked at me as a woman; I was never made aware of the fact that I am a woman.
Life and death are matters of the God. I can be killed even at home.
My father worked for more than four decades in politics, in Indian democracy, and it took us 20 years to build a house for ourselves.
Jammu is part of the state but the people of Jammu do not face the same kind of difficulties that we face in Kashmir.
