Srinagar: Seven major parties in Jammu and Kashmir formalized their newly stoned alliance for the restoration of Article 370 on Saturday, electing Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference as their chair and the head of the PDP, Mehbooba Mufti, as vice chair, stating that his was not an anti-national group ”.
The veteran CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami was chosen as the coordinator, while South Kashmir’s Lok Sabha member Hasnain Masoodi would be the coordinator of the conglomerate known as the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).
Sajjad Gani Lone of the People’s Conference would be the spokesperson for the amalgam.
After a meeting held at Mehbooba’s home, Abdullah, who turned 84 earlier this week, said that the alliance is fighting for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and is an “anti-BJP platform” and not an anti-national amalgam.
“I want to tell you that this is false propaganda from the BJP that the PAGD is anti-national. I want to tell you that this is not true. There is no doubt that it is anti-BJP, but it is not anti-national, ”he told reporters here.
Abdullah alleged that the BJP has tried to break the federal structure through acts such as the dilution of Article 370 and the division of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.
“They have tried to destroy the constitution of the country, they have tried to divide the nation, to break the federal structure that we saw what they did on August 5 of last year,” said the president of North Carolina.
“I want to tell you that this (PAGD) is not an anti-national jamaat. Our goal is for the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to regain their rights. That is where our battle is. Our battle is nothing more than that, ”he said.
Abdullah said that the BJP was propagandizing against PAGD members in Jammu and other parts of the country.
The leader of the National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, and the head of the PDP, Mehbooba Mufti, and other leaders watch as the spokesman of the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration, Sajjad Lone, speaks with the media after a meeting in Srinagar, on October 24, 2020. Photo: PTI / S. Irfan
“They are trying to divide us (the people of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh) in the name of religion. This attempt will not be successful. This is not a religious battle, it is a fight for our identity, and for that identity, we are united ”, he said.
The amalgam, which met for the first time after its formation, will publish a white paper within a month on governance in Jammu and Kashmir for the last year since the dissolution of Article 370, Lone told reporters after the meeting.
“The white paper will not be rhetoric. It will be based on facts and figures to present reality to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and across the country…. It is giving the impression that all the corruption has occurred in Jammu and Kashmir, ”Lone said.
The amalgam decided to hold its next meeting after a fortnight in Jammu, followed by a convention in Srinagar on November 17.
As a sign of defiance of the constitutional changes made by the Center regarding Jammu and Kashmir last year, the alliance adopted the flag of the old state as its symbol.
While the Kashmiri head of the Communist Party of India, AR Trukroo, joined the PAGD, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congressional Committee has quietly distanced itself from the alliance.
The head of the JKPCC, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who participated in the meetings that took place before the formalization of the PAGD earlier this month, skipped the last two meetings.
The JKPCC had issued a statement after the previous meeting that Mir was unable to attend due to the advice of doctors.
This time the party did not explain his absence from the meeting.
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