Samba, Feb 13: Apni Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday asked the government to explore new tourist destinations in both regions of Jammu & Kashmir to boost local economy, improve infrastructure as well as provide employment to the youth at their doorstep.
“The situation in Kashmir has improved and the peaceful situation has attracted tourists from across the country and abroad. However, there is a need to explore new tourist destinations in rural and remote areas that would help in generating a source of permanent income at the village level and infrastructural development,” Bukhari said while addressing a public rally that was organized in Samba by SC Wing Provincial President, Adv Lovely Singh Mangol.
According to a party statement issued here, Bukhari said the situation needs to be made favourable for the people to stop their migration from the villages to the urban areas in search of employment by providing jobs /self-employment opportunities at their doorstep. “This is possible when the tourists are attracted to the areas which are still to be explored and promoted on tourism maps by the authorities in Jammu region as well as in Kashmir region,” he said.
Expressing dismay over the “ignorant attitude” of the authorities towards the development of infrastructure in various religious as well as border tourist places, he said that religious tourists come to Jammu because of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji Shrine whereas the authorities have not made any efforts to explore the unexplored tourist potential.
Altaf Bukhari urged the people to vote and support the Apni Party candidates in the upcoming elections so that their areas can be represented by deserving candidates to resolve their issues and that the representative could be answerable to his voters.
He said his party has no personal issues with any political party in Jammu & Kashmir. “However, the Apni Party wants that they should have focused on developing and protecting the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. But these parties for the last seven decades worked for themselves, not for the people,” he said.
“The NC and PDP had their alliance government with BJP. The government in Delhi addresses the developmental issues of Jammu and Kashmir. However, these parties only focused on resolving their personal issues instead of taking Jammu and Kashmir on the path of development in the last seven decades,” he added.
Meanwhile, he pledged to protect the rights of the locals in Jammu & Kashmir. He also raised concern over the sidelining of J&K Administrative Service (JKAS) and J&K Police Service (JKPS) officers, saying the administration has been taken over by bureaucrats from outside J&K.
Bukhari said his party will restore the annual Darbar Move practice that had brought the people of two regions together and encouraged brotherhood among the people from different faiths.
