‘Revival of SAARC can genuinely make India Vishwaguru’
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, May 2: Alleging that the residents of Jammu and Kashmir are faced with an existential threat, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today accused the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party of plundering resources of the Union Territory like the East India Company once did in the country.
“Special settlements are being constructed for outsiders as the local population is evicted from their homes and lands while an economic disempowerment is being executed by bringing in contractors aligned to BJP from outside like the East India Company once did and looting State’ resources from water to sand,” said a resolution adopted in a joint meeting of the PDP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), senior leaders, office bearers, members of District Development Boards (DDC) and youth leaders in Srinagar today.
In the meeting, which was presided over by the party president Mehbooba Mufti, PDP pointed out that the planes of Jammu province, including Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur and Reasi are right now getting swamped by the floodgates opened by scrapping of the State, its constitution and special status granted by the Constitution of India as a guarantee against what is happening here over the past four years.
Further alleging that J&K continues to witness unbridled exercise of power by the security-bureaucracy combine, the party said in the resolution: “Our youth are being wasted in prisons on whims of Government agencies, their employment avenues are curtailed with an officially sponsored import of population from other States in the BJP’s settler project and demographic change currently under execution.”
Claiming that the special status under Articles 370 and 35A was a source of dignity and comfort not just for people of the State but had its positive impact for the entire region, PDP observed that the residents of J&K are faced with an existential threat as a distinct political, cultural, ethnic and religious collage that just three years back was a `true jewel of the crown for our multicultural, multi-religious, democratic country’.
The PDP meet resolved to renew its pledge to fight peacefully and democratically for restoration of `illegally snatched constitutional rights’. “We believe that in absence of our fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, any claims of normalcy or acceptance of status quo by the people are a blatant lie repeated over and over again by the Government and its embedded media,” it said.
Extending the party’s unflinching support to the forces at the national level, against the alleged fascist tendencies taking roots in the country, PDP said that it also expects the opposition parties to reach out to the people of J&K in their darkest moment of history. “They must show courage in helping us take our case to the people of India who have been misled into treating us as enemies who must be ‘conquered’ every day to feed the Akhand Bharat delusion of BJP leadership and their followers,” said the party, alleging that the entire country was hurtling fast towards what has been aptly adapted as a metaphor `Kashmirisation’.
Expressing satisfaction that the ceasefire at the LoC is holding which provides breathing space to the population living in those areas, PDP has suggested that the peace on borders should be used as an opportunity to revive the environment and peace process from the point at which it was left in 2005. Resumption of trade and travel should be prioritized along with resumption of State’s constitutional status, it added
“PDP believes there are no short cuts to a lasting peace in the state and region as is evidenced by the complete flop of muscular policies adopted by the BJP Government in the last five years of direct rule. The process has to be led by the people and aided by our Government and Pakistan,” PDP said in the resolution adopted in the party meeting.
Admitting that the forums like SCO and G20 are important for their diplomatic value, the PDP, however, opined that it’s the SAARC that has the potential for changing the lives of the largest mass of poverty stricken people inhabiting South Asia.
The party called upon the national leadership to rise above its domestic political engagement and acquire for India its natural leadership role in South Asia. “It’s in the revival of SAARC and establishment of lasting peace with dignity in J&K that India can genuinely become a Vishwaguru and lead its own economic revival along with its neighbors and rest of the world,” said the PDP.
The party called for the release of all political prisoners as a goodwill gesture and demanded the security agencies be held accountable for their actions.
PDP also reiterated its commitment towards making every effort to facilitate and ensure the dignified return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandit migrants and condemned the violence perpetrated selectively against them. “We believe the socio-cultural structure of Kashmir will remain incomplete without their dignified return to their homes,” it said.
Referring to the recent terror attack in Poonch, in which five soldiers were killed, PDP condemned violence of any kind and killing of civilians as well as men in uniform. However, the party also expressed serious concern over alleged harassment of local Muslim population of Peerpanjal in the name of questioning and alleged “total collapse of security system” in Poonch-Rajouri districts.
The meeting, which was held at Mehbooba Mufti’s residence in Khimber area on outskirts of Srinagar city, was attended by Abdul Rehman Veeri, Naeem Akhter, Choudhary Abdul Hamid, Dr Mehboob Beg, G N Lone Hanjoora, H S Reen, Imtiyaz Shan, Harmesh Salathia, Sartaj Madni, Waheedur Rehman Para, former Ministers, Legislators and members of DDCs.
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