Former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who chaired a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, said her party will continue to struggle for the resolution of the external and internal dimensions of the J&K issue and would extend unconditional support to political parties ready to fight for the restoration of J&K peoples’ rights and dignity.
The party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), which met under the chairmanship of Ms. Mufti, passed a joint resolution, which stated that the party’s commitment to struggle for the resolution of the external and internal dimensions of the J&K issue will continue.”
“The PDP calls for a united fight to restore the dignity and constitutional rights of J&K, which are enshrined in the Constitution of India. The party will extend unqualified support to other political parties in this joint fight and will look forward and welcome support of others. This is a call of history that we all can ignore only to our peril and annihilation of our distinct identity, culture and civilisational uniqueness,” the resolution reads.
“We implore the Government of India to restart dialogue both with people of J&K and Pakistan to put an end to the bloodshed here. For this, the party will, under the leadership of Ms. Mufti, strive through all constitutional, democratic and non-violent means,” it said.
The PDP termed August 5, 2019 move of the Centre “unconstitutional scrapping of the state and its status.”
“The constitution needs to be reversed. All unconstitutional actions taken on August 5, 2019 and since, rolling out of measures to disenfranchise, disempower and humiliate the people of the State are unacceptable to the party,” it said.
It also expressed “deep concern and anguish at the targeted attacks on unarmed civilians, especially our Pandit community”.
“The PDP has always cautioned against the evil designs of the BJP to force a demographic change in the State. This sinister plan hits at the very foundation of our forefathers’ dreams and decision to align with a secular, inclusive India,” it added.
The party resolution said the clampdown on media, peaceful protests and civil liberties “has encouraged the authorities to treat the citizens as enemies in their own country”. Voices of even a symbolic dissent are crushed ruthlessly, it added.
It asked the Centre to reassess its policy in J&K, which is making an already complex issue more complicated and into a humanitarian crisis.
“On a dispassionate introspection, the GoI may rediscover the merit of a policy introduced two decades back by Prime Minister Vajpayee in close coordination with our founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and carried forward by his astute successor Dr. Manmohan Singh,” it said.
The PDP said the expanding tentacles of militancy in the Jammu region “should serve as an alarm for our nation about the mismanagement of its most sensitive region by the BJP government”.
The unfortunate decision to suspend trade and travel across Line of Control has served neither the national interest nor helped local communities who had started looking beyond the scars of Partition and rebuilding lives. The route to permanent peace and prosperity for the region we reiterate passes through J&K, it added.
The party accused the government of failure to create new jobs, “resulting in all times high rate of unemployment in J&K”.
“Government jobs are on sale. No recruitment has happened transparently on merit in the last four years. The proof being the hasty scrapping of recruitment lists of sub-inspectors, finance account assistant and now junior engineers of the Jal Shakti due to large scale corruption charges,” the PDP alleged.
