Srinagar, May 11: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President and Member of the Parliament from Srinagar Dr Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said the party will continue its battle for the restoration of the abridged democratic and political rights of the people of J&K.
Dr Farooq, according to a party statement issued here, said this while leading party functionaries in paying rich tributes to Sheikh Muhammad Mansoor on his 33rd martyrdom anniversary at a public gathering organized by In Charge Constituency Shopian Sheikh Mohammad Rafi at Vehil, Shopian. Senior party leaders, other local unit party functionaries, block presidents, delegates, and workers were also present on the occasion.
In his address, the NC president reiterated that the party was “fighting for the honour and dignity” of the people through democratic, constitutional and peaceful means. He was quick to add that “certain sections from New Delhi to Kashmir have joined their efforts to derail the peaceful struggle and are trying to create disunity among our rows”.
“All they want is to have a pliable motley group of self-anointed leaders and social activists manufactured and incubated in the powerful corridors to whitewash and legitimise their undemocratic actions in 2019. However, their bogus narratives to discredit and delegitimize the NC and our leaders will never fructify. Their efforts will again gain momentum as various elections are approaching but as long as we don’t sell our conscience, nothing is going to harm us,” he said.
In his hour-long address, Dr Farooq reiterated that the policies pursued by the incumbent administration are extracting a heavy price on people, who are suffering from unemployment, underdevelopment and administrative problems all at the same time. “Holding assembly elections would be the first and most important step towards the restoration of all the constitutional rights guaranteed in the constitution of India and the fulfilment of the political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. There is no trade-off between the political aspirations and development demands of people, both have to be addressed,” he added.
He contended that India was a union of states and that every constituent unit of the country has a distinct character and identity. On the occasion, he joined party functionaries in recalling the contributions of Sheikh Mansoor to the party and the public.
