Srinagar, May 22: Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday said the leadership that ensured Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India in 1947 was destined and this status can’t be changed.
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“The leadership that ensured accession to India in 1947 was supported by the people and therefore J&K was destined to be with India forever and this status can’t be changed”, Bukhari said while addressing public rallies in south Kashmir district of Shopian and Kulgam today.
Bukhari urged people not to fall prey to the deceptive slogans of the traditional parties.
“You should no longer trust these traditional parties and their leaders. In every election season, they come seeking your votes, promising the moon and the stars. They have been deceiving you with misleading narratives, fake promises, and emotional slogans for years and decades”, he said and added “You must tell them, why they don’t talk now about their earlier slogans ‘Raishumari’, ‘Autonomy’, and ‘Self-rule’ if they truly believe in these ideals”.
He said these parties will only keep you busy with these slogans to attain power for themselves and establish their dynastic rule here.
Taking a dig at the PDP leader for her assertion that people will fight for another hundred years, Bukhari remarked, “Fight for what? The people of J&K are not going to fight against their country. Yes, we should fight, but not against our country; instead, we must fight against issues of poverty, and unemployment.”
“The PDP leader held the post of Chief Minister and State Home Minister in 2017 when people including Engineer Rashid, Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah, and others were arrested and sent to jail. The leaders of NC and PDP, who remained at the helm for years and decades, are responsible for landing thousands of our youth either in jails or in graveyards,” he added.
Reiterating his conviction regarding J&K’s relationship with the rest of the country, he said, “Jammu and Kashmir has been destined to be an integral part of the country, and it will always remain so”.
He said although New Delhi has caused issues and problems for the people in this region, “I am sure the solutions to these issues and problems will also come from New Delhi, not from elsewhere.”
He blamed New Delhi for paving the way for a prolonged phase of violence in Jammu and Kashmir by permitting widespread rigging in the elections held here in 1987.
He said, “After the Rajiv-Farooq accord, the central government allowed widespread rigging in the assembly elections held in 1987. This ensured the NC’s victory, even though it had lost the entire election. (Agencies)