Congress will overcome all hurdles in way of statehood: Nizamudin

Srinagar, Aug 11: Senior Congress leader and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Bandipora, Nizamudin Bhat, on Monday condemned the alleged manhandling of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra during a protest in Jammu, calling it a violation of democratic ethics and an act of administrative high-handedness.Addressing a press conference at JKPCC headquarters at Moulana Azad Road, Srinagar, Bhat said: “We are a civilised party and our members are constitutionally respected citizens of India. The campaign we have launched, with active public support at both the UT and national levels, seems to have unnerved the J&K administration.”Referring to the incident in Jammu, Bhat, who is the party’s Chief Whip in J&K, said the Congress chief, along with senior leaders, had formally requested permission to erect a tent near the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh as part of their peaceful protest for the restoration of J&K’s statehood. “Instead of facilitating a democratic exercise, the administration resorted to photographing the protesters and even manhandling our party chief. This is against the ethics of governance,” he said.The MLA reaffirmed the Congress party’s resolve to “overcome all odds” in its fight for the restoration of statehood and full democratic rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.The statement comes amid the Congress party’s ongoing chain hunger strike across J&K under the banner “Hamari Riyasat, Hamara Haq (Our State, Our Right)”. The agitation, which began on August 9 and will continue until August 21, is part of a broader nationwide campaign to highlight the demand for the restoration of J&K’s statehood, revoked in August 2019. As part of the programme, Congress leaders, workers, and supporters are holding day-long relay hunger strikes in different districts, coupled with public meetings and awareness drives. The party maintains that the move to downgrade J&K to a Union Territory was unconstitutional and against the aspirations of its people, and has pledged to sustain pressure on the government through peaceful, democratic means.