Srinagar, Oct 12: In another blow to separatists in the Kashmir Valley, a prominent leader of banned Jamaat-e-Islami along with his supporters joined the Apni Party at its headquarters here Thursday and said this was one of the realistic approaches being adopted by them while hoping that many more will come through.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader, Talat Majid, who hails from the Pulwama district of South Kashmir and was a Rukn-e-Jamaat (member of Jamaat) before it was banned, made it clear that his decision was not influenced by any pressure to be a part of a mainstream political party.
“I am not under any pressure to join the mainstream… I have been advocating this change since 2014. I wanted to bring this change from the platform of Jamaat-e-Islami. Since I did not get a chance there, I decided to look for other options,” Majid told reporters after joining one of the youngest political parties in Jammu and Kashmir.
While welcoming Majid and his supporters into the party fold, Apni Party founder Altaf Bukhari said anyone who denounces terrorism and drugs, believes in the Indian constitution and the development of Jammu and Kashmir was welcome to join the party.
“We will continue our efforts till every person in Jammu and Kashmir joins the Apni Party,” he said.
In September this year, former separatist Syed Muzaffar Rizvi, who was the general secretary of Itihadul Muslimeen — a Shia separatist outfit part of the Hurriyat Conference amalgam — had joined the Apni Party.
Bukhari, a businessman-turned-politician, had announced Rizvi’s appointment as the Apni Party’s vice-president for the Kashmir region.
Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir was an important constituent of the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference till 2003. The organisation, which claimed itself to be a socio-religious group, was believed to be the ideological fountainhead of banned terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. The party was banned in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Majid said terrorism never benefited Kashmiris.
“I have been saying since 2014 that we should adopt a realistic approach. I have always talked about the geopolitical situation that resulted in the death of 1.5 lakh youths and 1.1 lakh youths addicted to drugs. We have to think about the future of the youth.
“It will be my agenda… I will try to save the youth. It is my wish that no one should die in the name of armed struggle. It is the ordinary Kashmiri who dies, irrespective of which side fires the bullet,” he said.
Majid said that no one has thought about the ordinary people.
“The rhetoric would be that this movement needs blood. Ask the leaders whose blood does it need? Does it need the blood of a poor man’s son or should we give that blood? We should be realistic enough to know that the gun is not in favour of Kashmiris,” he added. (AGENCIES)
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