In a shocking remark, that has been construed many as overreacting, she said, “If Delhi tries to dismiss the voting rights of people like 1987, if it tries to create divisions and interfere like that then I think just like a Salahuddin and a Yasin Malik were born in 1987…If it tries to break PDP like that then outcomes will be dangerous”.

Mehbooba Mufti was referring to the beginning of militancy when Syed Salahuddin along with others chose jihad or violent armed movement to annex Jammu and Kashmir from mainland India by founding Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, now a banned terrorist organisation. Yasin Malik, now arrested, was a young rebel turned militant then who headed Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and was at the forefront of perpetrating violence against the Kashmiri Pandits who were forced out of the valley they lived in for generations.

Naturally, this comment not only went down well with her former ally BJP but also others. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi lashed out saying, “She should not have made such a statement at a time when terrorist organisations are on a back foot. Comments like this will provide oxygen to them”. Even her opponent at the state, Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated, “People will not mourn the demise of a party created in Delhi”. He further stated in Twitter, “not one new militant will be created with the break-up of the PDP”.

The comment of Mehbooba stems from the buzz that has been doing the rounds in the corridors of power in the last 1 week when BJPs point person Ram Madhav met Kashmiri leaders. Sources say, Sajjad Lones’ growing proximity with BJP was a cause for worry for Mehbooba as she feared, she could work as a bridge between the BJP and the disgruntled PDP MLAs to engineer a split. Right now Jammu and Kashmir is under Governor's rule ever since BJP decided to end its alliance with the PDP on grounds of the laters’ soft attitude to terror and law and order.