Srinagar: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday dropped finance minister Haseeb Ahmed Drabu from the council of ministers, a day after he said that Kashmir “isn’t a political one” but a society with “social issues.”
The statement had set of a political storm in the state and had drawn the ire of lawmakers from the PDP and the opposition alike. It came at a time when the PDP and its coalition partner, the BJP, are at loggerheads on a range of issues, and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has openly pressed for talks with Pakistan.
At an event, ‘Kashmir: The Way Forward’, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at New Delhi, Drabu had said, “Don’t see J&K as a conflict state and a political issue. It is a society which has social issues right now. We are trying to find our own space and we are going through a process which many other countries are also going through.”
“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,” he said.
The PDP had demanded an explanation from Drabu and asked him to retract his statement immediately as it was contradictory to their stand. Drabu was said to be close to the BJP leadership at the Centre.
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