A sharp political spat has broken out between the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after NC president Farooq Abdullah criticised Mehbooba Mufti’s demand for divisional status for the Pir Panjal and Chenab regions, calling it a revival of the controversial “Dixon Plan.”
Speaking to reporters in Jammu on Tuesday, Abdullah said the proposal amounted to territorial division along the Chenab river. “It is a Dixon Plan. You might not know that. The Dixon Plan was an old proposal which envisaged division on the basis of the Chenab river, creating a Greater Kashmir Valley on one side and separating this part,” he said.
Mehbooba Mufti responded swiftly, accusing the NC and the BJP of being “on the same page” when it comes to suppressing. The aspirations of people in Pir Panjal and the Chenab Valley. She also countered Abdullah’s historical argument with a pointed reference to his family’s past. “I think he has forgotten that his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was arrested in 1953 for covertly supporting that very same formula,” Mufti said.
Rejecting the charge that her demand was divisive, the PDP chief said the call was purely administrative in nature. “Raising demands for Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley is once again being portrayed as divisive. The PDP does not want to divide Jammu and Kashmir. We are asking for divisional administration because these districts are remote, and people find it extremely difficult to reach officials to get their grievances addressed,” she said.
The Dixon Plan was proposed in September 1950 by Sir Owen Dixon, then a United Nations representative and former chief justice of Australia, as a possible solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.
Abdullah also rejected recent remarks by former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu suggesting the separation of Jammu from Kashmir. Referring to Ladakh’s bifurcation, he warned against further division. “Ladakh was separated, and now they want to rejoin Jammu and Kashmir. These people are clashing with reality; they are bewakoof (foolish) and nasamajh (ignorant),” he said.
The NC president further dismissed Mehbooba Mufti’s recent criticism of the Omar Abdullah-led government over unemployment. “It’s easy to point fingers. I want to ask her what she did as Chief Minister, or what her father did. When you point one finger at others, don’t forget that three fingers point back at you,” Abdullah added.
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