Demand for Assembly polls, restoration of Statehood
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Mar 15: Pressing for Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an all party delegation from the Union Territory, except BJP and its ‘friendly’ parties, is going to meet national leaders of opposition parties and Election Commission of India at New Delhi tomorrow.
Headed by National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, the all party delegation is scheduled to meet national leaders of the opposition camp at Constitution Club of India, Rafi Marg, New Delhi and apprise them of the political situation in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, which is under Central rule for the last more than four years.
Besides Assembly election in the Union Territory, sources said that the delegation will also seek assistance of the opposition parties in getting Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir restored.
This will be immediately followed by a meeting with Election Commission of India at New Delhi where a detailed memorandum will be submitted for early Assembly elections in J&K, sources added.
Besides National Conference, representatives of People’s Democratic Party, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, J&K National Panthers Party, CPI, CPI(M), Awami National Conference and others will be part of the all party delegation.
However, neither BJP, nor the parties friendly to it, such as Apni Party, People’s Conference and Democratic Progressive Azad Party, have been included in the delegation.
Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, JKNPP leader Harsh Dev Singh, NC provincial president Ratan Lal Gupta, Awami National Conference ANC) chief Muzaffar Shah, PDP leader Amrik Singh Reen, CPI(M) leader Master Hari Singh, Mission Statehood President Sunil Dimple and others are likely to be part of the delegation.
It may be recalled that the decision to visit New Delhi and meet the Election Commission of India as well as opposition party leaders was taken during an all party meeting held at Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Jammu on March 11.
That meeting was attended by Congress president Vikar Rasool Wani, Working President Raman Bhalla, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami, PDP’s Amrik Singh Reen, Harsh Dev Singh, Muzaffar Shah, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Taranjit Singh Tony, Dogra Sadar Sabha president Gulchain Singh Charak, Shiv Sena (UTB) leader Manish Sahni and Mission Statehood president Sunil Dimple.
The meeting was convened to discuss the prevailing situation, ‘unrest’ among the people and chalk out future course of action. As all leaders put forth their view point, it was unanimously decided that an all party delegation would go to Delhi and meet the national leaders from the opposition to brief them about the issues being faced by the people of J&K.
This is for the first time in recent years that all the political parties in J&K, except BJP and its ‘allies’ have joined hands to press for Assembly elections and restoration of Statehood.
Earlier, the mainstream Kashmir centric parties had formed Gupkar Alliance for restoration of special status of Jammu and Kashmir but the conglomerate failed to convenience Jammu based parties for joining hands over the issue.
Sources said that other issues like imposition of Property Tax, recently conducted anti-encroachment drive across J&K, protests by job aspirants, target killings of minorities, etc are also likely to be taken up with the opposition party leaders during meeting at the Constitution Club tomorrow.
After returning from Delhi, these parties will meet again at Jammu while a similar exercise will be held in Kashmir also to chalk out the future course of action, sources added.
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