Srinagar: The People’s Democratic Party also called PDP has dropped his finance minister Haseeb Ahmed Drabu from the council of ministers. Yesterday in his statement he said that Kashmir “isn’t a political one” but a society with “social issues” after this party had decided to drop him.

His statement had set off a political storm in the state. Resultant, annoyance of lawmakers from the PDP and the opposition party as well.

It came at a time when the PDP and its coalition partner, the BJP, were in present in an event, and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has openly pressed for talks with Pakistan. The reason for his statement was, both the parties loggerheads on the range of issues.

At ‘Kashmir: The Way Forward’ event, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at New Delhi, Haseeb 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 of itself,” he added.

The People’s Democratic Party had demanded an explanation from  Haseeb 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.