Says J&K was made scapegoat for gaining votes, IGP must probe killings of three youth in recent encounters, youth must stay away from gun culture, follow peaceful path of Gandhi

(Asian News Hub) – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that whatever was snatched from Kashmiris on August 05, 2019 will have to be returned with interest.

Addressing party workers on the occasion of 22nd foundation day of PDP at party headquarters, Mehbooba as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said with the decision taken in August 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir was made scapegoat for gaining votes.

“It is unfortunate that the only Muslim majority state in India was split,” she said, adding that whatever people of Kashmir faced wasn’t done by India and its constitution, but by an individual party.

“The identity of J&K people was snatched illegally and whatever was snatched from people on August 5, 2019, will have to be returned with interests,” she said, adding that “when India can achieve freedom from British after 70 years, when BJP can snatch special status of J&K after 70 years, then why can’t we fight out rights.”

The PDP president said that the J&K people want to live with India and thus will continue to raise their voice and seek the restoration of special status.

She appealed to youth to shun the militancy, saying that some people want youth to take up arms, but “the youth should stay away from culture. We will raise our voice peacefully. We have to learn from Mahatma Gandhi. We need to learn from him.”

According to KNO, Mehbooba said that J&K people preferred to stay with India due to its democratic nature, but whatever was given to the people by India itself has been snatched.

“Today forces are not fighting enemies, Pakistan and China, but with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. They (forces) have created fear among the people,” she said, adding that people are being threatened for raising their voice.

On the formation of PDP, she said her father established this party with an intention to help Kashmiris to come out for the suppression they faced. “My father never sought votes for developmental issues. Although he did development during his tenure by constructing Colleges, Universities and roads as well, he always sought votes for the well being of Kashmiris in terms of helping them to come out from the situation they were facing,” she said.

Meanwhile, she appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir to probe the killing of three youth in encounters, saying that people are raising fingers on IGP after the killing of three youth in the encounters.

“IGP should probe the killings of Zakir, Imran and Azad Mushtaq. The facts in this regard should be made public,” she said.

KNO

Formal announcement soon after Sagar briefs party Chief Dr Farooq tomorrow

Abid Bashir

(Asian News Hub) – After two-day long hectic deliberations within the National Conference, the party is all set to announce its decision to join the delimitation exercise and the final announcement will be made by party chief Dr Farooq Abdullah tomorrow.

Reliable sources within the NC told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that party General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar chaired two crucial meetings of NC leaders at Nawa-e-Subh on Friday and Saturday.​ “The leaders discussed the threadbare possibility of participation in the delimitation process. Majority of leaders expressed their willingness to join the exercise stating that valuable suggestions from the NC will help the commission to frame an unbiased report,” sources, privy to the NC deliberations, revealed.

A senior party leader, who was present in the meeting said that there was nothing wrong in participating in the delimitation process. “We have a strong case and our participation will help prevent any sort of injustice. Any increase in the Assembly seats has to meet certain parameters like population, geography and area of the constituency,” he said, wishing not to be named. “In case, Commission goes in the wrong direction, we can at least resist. By staying away, we won’t be able to know what the Commission is upto. We will also ask the members of the Commission what they are up to and what assessment they have done. By asking this, we won’t be committing any crime as there is a freedom of speech guaranteed by the democracy of our country.”

NC General Secretary confirmed to KNO that he chaired two back to back meetings of party leaders.

“We discussed whether we should participate in the delimitation exercise. There is a consensus within the party and we will brief our party chief Dr Farooq sahab tomorrow (Sunday) about the same. After that, he will take the final call,” Sagar said.

The J&K LG Manoj Sinha had recently stated that participation of political parties in the delimitation process will help in ensuring timely elections and at the end the move will also help put up a good assembly.

It may be recalled that NC had publicly stated that it wouldn’t participate in the delimitation exercise as the move would​ “tantamount to accepting the events of 5th August 2019”—when the special status of the erstwhile state was abrogated.” However, some voices started emerging within the party slowly that supported participation in the process which later converted into a “majority view.” Sources in NC said that even those who were earlier opposing any sort of participation in the commission changed their minds and advocated “there was no harm in joining the process.”

NC vice-president Omar Abdullah had recently told reporters that the party had authorized Dr Farooq to take a call on whether to participate in the delimitation process. However, sources said the meetings chaired by Sagar was a move to build a consensus over the issue to avoid “any sort of internal bickering within the party at this crucial stage.”

Dr Farooq, who on June 24 attended an All Party Meeting (APM) in New Delhi, told reporters in Srinagar that the meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere and “it was a first step towards starting a fresh political process in J&K.”

Sources said that one of the major reasons why NC seems to have softened its stand owing to many reasons and one of the primary reasons is that at this crucial juncture the party doesn’t seem to annoy New Delhi by staying away from the delimitation process. Soon after the APM on June 24, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had tweeted: “The future of Jammu and Kashmir was discussed and the delimitation exercise and peaceful elections are important milestones in restoring statehood as promised in parliament.”

Sources in NC said that after getting a briefing from party General Secretary Sagar over the issue, Dr Farooq will make the party’s decision public late Sunday afternoon. The delimitation commission will arrive in J&K on a three-day visit from July 6 and meet all the political leaders and civil society members to get their feedback over re-drawing the boundaries of assembly constituencies in the J&K UT.

‘Will strive to create an enabling environment to facilitate New Delhi to deliver, Statehood should be restored now, delimitation process should be fair ’

(Asian News Hub) – Peoples Conference (PC) Chairman, Sajad Gani Lone on Thursday said all the leaders who participated in the recently held all party meeting in New Delhi on June 24, made their people proud.

Addressing a news conference, Lone, who was accompanied by Imran Raza Ansari and Basharat Bukhari, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) Correspondent said, the participants from Jammu and Kashmir in the All Party Meeting made their people proud and reflected their pain in befitting manner.

He said it obvious that those who will go to New Delhi to represent people can never disrespect the sentiments of people. “I would give equal marks to all those who participated and spoke in the meeting,” he said.

“As on date, there are no winners or losers. It is a long process. We have to ensure that New Delhi delivers and we have to make an enabling environment for them to deliver and that cannot be done by rhetoric. India is a land of elections. There is an election after every six or eight months. Let us not resort to rhetoric and create an environment where delivery becomes difficult. If delivery becomes difficult or delayed, there is only one loser and that is the people of J&K,” he said.

Lone said his party will strive to create an enabling environment to facilitate delivery mechanisms.

Asked about the assurances over restoration of Statehood after elections, Lone said, “I would say that the Statehood should be restored now. Not as a matter of charity, but as a matter of right, it should be restored now. I wouldn’t link elections with statehood,” he said.

He further said that he wouldn’t boycott the elections. “I will not say that I will myself boycott the elections and the party will contest. We all are equal. I am not more moral than them” he said, adding that boycotting polls could be a trap to scare parties and facilitate their own people to win elections .

“There is a need to understand that boycotting elections has yielded no results. We should look at the other side as well .Keeping away the opponents could be a trap,” he said.

Replying to a query, he said that the party will participate in the Delimitation exercise if it is invited, saying that the process has to be fair within the regions and across the regions.

Other PC leaders Abid Ansari, Peerzada Mansoor and Muhmmad Abbas were also present in the news conference.

KNO