‘Hold Assembly elections in J&K’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 25: Former Chief Minister and Chairman of Democratic Azad Party Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that Assembly elections should be held in Jammu and Kashmir at an earliest and assured that he will ensure safety of people if voted to power.
Speaking to reporters here while inaugurating the party office, Azad said that the Government should hold Assembly elections immediately without any further delay.
“We have been waiting for the elections for the last six years. I have been telling the Parliament, hold elections, hold elections, hold elections but they are not holding it. Sometimes they show Panchayat elections, sometimes DDC and sometimes BDC. The real election is Assembly elections,” he said.
When asked about delaying elections, the former Chief Minister said those who are running the Government better know it. “They have ruined Kashmir,” he said.
He said that he will ensure that every person living in Jammu and Kashmir will feel safe if his party is elected to power.
Azad showed concerns over the growing insecurity among the locals of Kashmir in general and minority Kashmiri Pandits in particular given the recent target killings by militants in the last several years which forced minority people to flee.
“We need an era of development in Jammu and Kashmir that provides equal economic opportunities to all. Jobs need to be created; infrastructure required to be built at par with the modern standards. That is how an all-round development takes place,” he told workers at party headquarters.
He said that dwelling economic opportunities in Jammu Kashmir have pushed people to the wall. “It allows terrorism to flourish. If we are in power after elections, I assure you Jammu Kashmir will flourish, a new dawn of peace and development will be set in with every citizen part of it,” he said.
He expressed his displeasure over the security concerns of Kashmiri Pandits and said the Government must ensure their safety and security. “Our Pandit brethren have been protesting for several months after facing attacks in Kashmir. All they demand is safety and security and the Government should consider their demands,” he urged the Government.
Azad said when he was the Chief Minister, he ensured that everyone living in Jammu Kashmir is safe but now the concerns over security are growing.
“We will ensure this situation doesn’t prevail and Kashmir is back to normalcy with every citizen feeling safe if we are forming the Government,” he said.
Azad said that it was he when jobs to Pandits were sanctioned by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“The proposal for providing them jobs under PM scheme was given by my Government to Manmohan Singh when I was Chief Minister and it was sanctioned. We were supposed to provide 6000 jobs but provided only 3000. We could have provided 6000 but they were not ready to come here due to fear,” he said.
He said that Pandit employees should be allowed to work in Jammu till the situation normalises in Kashmir.
“At that time no one was touching the Kashmiri Pandits but unfortunately in between there have been certain incidents. Naturally life is dear to everyone. My opinion is that they should be sent to Jammu and when the situation normalises, they should come back. Is life more important or employment, life is more precious?” he said.
Azad said that no political and economic roadmap was created by the successive regimes in Jammu and Kashmir.
“They had no roadmap. They are doing politics on pity issues. DAP is the alternative force that will defeat these parties with overwhelming majority since people have realized the need for change in Jammu Kashmir,” he said.
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