Srinagar
The launch of a so-called new political party in the name of ‘Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party’ by one Altaf Bukhari, a puppet of Hindu extremist organizations in India, has been described as ‘an offshoot of Bharatiya Janata Party’ by even pro-India leaders and political parties in occupied Kashmir.
The National Conference said it is pretty clear that India is contriving to prop up yet another formation in Kashmir to ‘serve its interests at the cost of democracy’. In a statement in Srinagar, NC Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the emergence of the new political formation is a ‘handiwork of those who want to blunt the true representative voices of Jammu and Kashmir’. The move is aimed to ditch genuine political aspirations of the people of Kashmir, he added.
‘They want to fill the political vacuum of Kashmir with those who parrot what New Delhi wants them to. It is therefore safe to call this new formation as Delhi’s party and nothing else,’ he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President A Mir while terming the new political party as ‘an offshoot of the saffron party’ described it as the ‘creation of various quarters, which have always been hell bent upon creating chaos and divisions in Kashmir.’ As a result, some have succumbed to pressure and were made to join it. But, such pressure tactics won’t make any difference on the ground, rather it has exposed the motive behind it, he added.
The JKPCC President urged the people of the territory to rise to the occasion and expose such new and old formations to bring stability in the region. ‘The off-shoot of BJP will no longer befool the people, for the fact, the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are very mature and know how to deal with such formations,’ Mir added.
Meanwhile, former IOJ&K minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla demanded of New Delhi to immediately come with a bill to revert Jammu & Kashmir’s status of full statehood.
It is interesting to read the Party Declaration (of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party). Its contents are pragmatic and it doesn’t seem to promise anything that it may find impossible to deliver, unlike its predecessors. It is hard idealism to declare that the party wishes “to create a viable, political platform that functions in accordance with the wishes of people and where the people are real stakeholders of the political process” nonetheless it reflects the spirit of such endeavors. Any new political dispensation or party cannot take the self-seeking route. Be it a party or any group, it has to represent and work for the interests of the people.
The bitter experience, political parties under the guise of democratic spirit tend to work almost entirely to protect their own interests and those of their cadres than of the people. It remains to be seen as how JKAP would reconcile the two and avoid the baggage that most parties earlier used to carry.
The legislature, which has been promised, has to make a beginning somewhere. It is wishful thinking, and all institutions must work to make that happen. Jammu and Kashmir has to have a political address. To make it even more specific, JKAP says in its declaration that the party will ‘specifically seek to secure JK’s Statehood, protection of domicile rights with respect to disposition of land and employment in government services, preserve the self-respect and dignity of the people of Jammu Kashmir, the dignified return of Kashmiri Pandits, empowerment of youth and the women, achieve sustained and regionally balanced economic growth and articulate other popular demands of the people that have a bearing on their wellbeing.—Agencies
