Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 9: Calling for the youth to participate in democratic process pro-actively, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said they alone can change the prevailing system of misgovernance and corruption.
Addressing meeting of youth from Anantnag constituency, Mehbooba observed that the youth of the State would have to assert their power to bring in a systemic change as they are the best human material and they only need the right atmosphere and assistance to show their worth.
She said the youth who comprise 50 per cent of the state’s population, are the most important segment of the society and there is urgent need to devote focused attention for securing a bright and prosperous future for them.
Mehbooba said frustration among educated unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir in absence of free atmosphere and an effective, fare and transparent employment policy could have serious repercussions. She said the increasing number of unemployed youth in the state is a reflection that unlike other states the private sector has failed to contribute substantially in creating job opportunities.
She said that instead of addressing their grievances, the State Government has engaged in suppressing the voice of youth who in thousands are facing criminal cases and inspite of repeated announcements by the Government, the cases have not been withdrawn. She said youth of the state have fallen victim to a variety of problems arising out of political uncertainty and economic deprivation.
She said that due to rampant corruption in the State the future of youth has been put at stake. The PDP has brought in an agenda of hope and youth are the focus of its policies, Ms Mehbooba said, adding that the present dispensation subverted the PDP’s fair and transparent process of recruitment and had once again reverted to its traditional backdoor and corrupt practices.
She said the youth of Jammu and Kashmir are among the best and they deserve the best. Stressing upon the youth to strive for the change, Ms Mehbooba said that it was a two way process to uplift the youth and facilitate their well being.
She said the PDP has become the symbol of the people’s aspiration for better governance, justice and accountability and is committed to take the state out of the political and economic siege.
The PDP president also called for re-opening of traditional trade links connecting Jammu and Kashmir with rest of the world. “Today, when the Government of India tries to convince Pakistan to open more land routes for trade, opening of traditional land routes in Jammu and Kashmir will bolster a new era of economic resurgence which will benefit all particularly the youth of the state,” the PDP president said in her address.
She assured the youth that her party will take up the slow pace of developmental works on construction of District Hospital Building and shop complex in Anantnag with full force in and out side the Assembly.