Gopal Sharma
POONCH, June 23: Patron of People’s Democratic Party and former J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said that the biggest challenge before the new Government at Delhi led by Narendra Modi is to deal with the sensitive issues of Jammu and Kashmir and the PDP would act as a facilitator to restore complete peace in this sub-continent.
Addressing a large public rally at Fountain Park here today, Mufti said that the people of this State also have high hopes from the new NDA regime and it is expected that new Government headed by Narendra Modi would follow the holistic path shown by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee while dealing with problems of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mufti said that peace is the only option to move ahead on development path and resolve all sensitive issues. He argued that Jammu and Kashmir needed a holistic approach to help it come out of its immense problems. He regretted that residents of Jammu and Kashmir are facing hardship due to mis-governance of the present regime headed by National Conference. “Governance deficit is not only increased in the last nearly six years but what is a cause of a greater worry is the erosion of credibility of our democratic institutions”, he observed.
“PDP is committed to bridge the gap between different regions and also between people of Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country”, he said, adding “during our tenure we had proved how to treat all regions and sub-regions equally and party would further facilitate the process of bridging the gap to ensure justice and equality to all regions and sub-regions”.
Reiterating resolve of his party to give voice to the masses of the State, Mufti said his party has successfully challenged hegemony of NC and emerged as credible voice of the people. He said that it was result of the conviction and commitment of the party leadership that PDP, in short span of time, has credibility of the people of all the three regions of the State. He especially mentioned towards results of recently held Lok Sabha polls in which National Conference was completely washed out in whole State.
The PDP leader said, “Our resolve is to make Poonch as Gateway to Kashmir. Opening of Mughal road and LoC for crossing and trade is going to change destiny of the people of Poonch,” he added.
Terming opening of points on LoC as most significant CBM since 1947, Mufti said that opening of Uri-Muzaffrabad and Poonch-Rawalakote roads has liberated people of Jammu and Kashmir from seize which they had been facing after partition of the country.
While reminding the people about steps taken by the PDP regime to complete work on Mughal road, he told the people that Poonch would be soon emerged as “Gateway of Kashmir” and this belt would be a biggest business centre of this sub-continent. He reminded that during the regime of PDP various steps were taken for the development of the land locked border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
Mufti reiterated his commitment to establish a Medical College at Poonch. He further said that PDP would work hard for connecting twin mountainous districts of Poonch and Rajouri with rail network.
The PDP stalwart also fired a salvo at some of the local leaders who stayed away from this party function for the denial of party ticket to them from Poonch-Haveli seat and said that party needed only dedicated and committed soldiers like Yash Pal Sharma. Some people are only after party ticket, their aim is not to serve the people selflessly. With dedication and honest commitment, today Yash Paul has emerged as the ‘king maker’ and party had also sought his advise while approving the name of the party candidate for Poonch, Shah Mohd Tantray. He declared that Tantray would emerge as winner with the support of the people from this constituency.
It is pertinent to mention here that five local leaders of the PDP namely Imtiaz Bandey, Shamim Ganai, Lal Hussain, Mohd Zaman and Shahzad Khan, reportedly stayed away from the PDP rally at Poonch today, showing their resentment for the denial of party mandate to them.
Senior party Yash Pal Sharma-MLC, Basharat Bukhari-MLA, Hamid Manhas- district president, Shah Mohammad Tantray, PDP candidate for Poonch-Haveli Assembly segment, Prem Sudan, Iqbal Qazmi, Shamim Dar, Haji Taj Khan, Javed Choudhary, M R Qureshi Ex-MLC and others also spoke on the occasion.
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