Srinagar, June 19: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president and Member of the Parliament from Srinagar Dr Farooq Abdullah on Monday asked the people to unite against the divisive forces that are trying to disenfranchise them of their identity, land and resources.
Talking to the media persons on the sidelines of a private function at Gasoo, Batapora Hazratbal, Dr Farooq, according to a party statement, said, “I see no way of achieving anything in J&K without a lasting unity between different sections of our society. Unity in diversity must be our creed to last for all times and under all circumstances, otherwise, there is no end in sight to our common problems in the shape of poverty, and unemployment.”
Party’s Vice President Omar Abdullah, Treasurer Shammi Oberoi, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq, MP Hasnain Masoodi, Political Advisor Mudassar Shahmiri, YNC Provincial President Salman Ali Sagar accompanied the party president to the function, the statement said.
The NC president emphasized the value of preserving J&K’s diversity and its unity in diversity, saying, “It becomes all the more important to preserve our culture, language and traditions in our families in wake of the attempts aimed at destroying it. I am sure that people will foil all such attempts by keeping the flame of unity and brotherhood alive. We have to stop seeing ourselves as Hindu-Muslim, Shia-Suni, and Barelvi-Deobandi. Unity in diversity must be our creed to last for all time and under all circumstances, otherwise, there is no end in sight to our common problems let alone restoration of our abridged constitutional and democratic rights.”
“Jammu and Kashmir had survived numerous conspiracies and ploys to dilute its unique culture and history and the National Conference will never allow the apologetic proxies of communal parties to divide people for their short-term, electoral and political gains,” Dr Farooq said.
J&K people carrying biggest burden of unelected govt: NC
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Monday said the people here are carrying the “biggest burden” of the ongoing unelected and “unaccountable” government, saying no place has suffered so much for the right to vote as J&K.
Expressing concern over the unending President’s rule in Jammu & Kashmir which completed five years on Monday, the party’s state spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar in a statement said, “The lingering President’s rule in J&K has completed five years, it is just a few months before it breaks the record of the longest spell of presidents rule in J&K. Is it an oblique acceptance on behalf of the Government of India that the situation in J&K is as grave as ‘90s?”
On one hand, they cry from rooftops that the situation in J&K has witnessed marked improvement, but on the other hand, the people are denied their right to elect the popular government, he said. “What’s holding them back? If the security situation is admittedly better, then what is holding them back? People are fed up with the lingering undemocratic rule and want an end to it. They want an end to their miseries that have been aggravated by the lingering undemocratic rule,” he asked. “Why have the doors of the temple of democracy been closed on us? Why isn’t democracy not allowed to enter Jammu & Kashmir? Why are our people kept away from tasting the fruits of the democratically elected government?”
“Had the ruling dispensation been so emphatic and considerate of the supremacy of the Constitution and the people’s plight, then the undemocratic rule of outsourced bureaucracy wouldn’t have lasted for nearly half a decade,” the NC spokesperson said.
