Farooq Abdullah, 83, was unanimously appointed chairman of the grouip
Srinagar:
The flag of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir will be used by the coalition of all major regional parties seeking to regain their status and powers, the bloc announced on Saturday. The group will be led by former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his rival Mehbooba Mufti will be his deputy.
The “People’s Alliance” is an unprecedented grouping of parties that signed the Gupkar Declaration last year just before the center repealed Jammu and Kashmir’s decades-long special powers listed in article 370 of the constitution and divided it into two Union territories.
The leaders, who buried years of bitter rivalry to ally, met at the residence of the head of the People’s Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti, for the first time after its formation on Saturday.
The leader of the National Conference, Abdullah, 83, was unanimously appointed chairman of the group, while Mufti will be its vice-chair. Left-wing leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami is the coordinator of the alliance, while Sajad Lone of the People’s Conference has been appointed spokesperson.
“I want to tell you that it is false propaganda from the BJP that the PAGD (People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration) 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,” Abdullah told journalists after the meeting.
“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,” he said.
Sajad Lone said the alliance will release a whitepaper within a month on governance in Jammu and Kashmir for the last year since the repeal of Article 370 and will “expose the lies and propaganda” of the BJP and how Kashmiris have been slandered. .
“The white paper will not be rhetorical. 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 only “said Mr. Lone.
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