News Analysis India

Tag: National conference

  • Regret that my party didn’t participate in panchayat polls: Farooq Abdullah

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah Tuesday expressed regret that his party didn’t participate in the 2018 panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The National Conference had not participated in the panchayat polls held in September 2018 and also boycotted the Block Development Council (BDC) polls held in 2019 after the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

    Speaking at the parliamentary outreach programme for strengthening Parliamentary Raj Institutions (PRIs), Abdullah exuded confidence that soon a government will be formed in J&K which will make officials answerable to people.

    Requesting Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who was present on the dais, for providing security to panchayat leaders, Abdullah said they are being targeted by terrorists.

    “The politicians who are standing with the country are target of the terrorists and it is for the country to protect them,” he said.

    Talking about local polls held in September 2018, the National Conference leader said, “I regret that my party didn’t participate in panchayat polls”.

    Abdullah expressed his anguish that government officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration “don’t pick phones as if some ghost is hanging upon them”.

    He requested Sinha to instruct officials to answer phone calls of people.

    “Soon a government will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir which will make government officials answerable to the people,” Abdullah said.

  • I was deeply jaded but politicians can’t mourn for long: Omar Abdullah on Article 370 abrogation

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Two years after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated and he was detained for 234 days, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday that after initially being “deeply jaded” he had realised that as a politician he didn’t have the right to “mourn” for long and could not let down the people struggling for their basic constitutional rights.

    On the eve of the second anniversary of the nullification of Article 370 of the Constitution, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state which has been bifurcated into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, said that what had been done on August 5 had come as a shock to most people who were affected by the “sudden, unexpected and unconstitutional blow”.

    Abdullah, who spent seven months in detention which was challenged in the Supreme Court, recalled, “I was a deeply jaded and disappointed individual. I found it difficult to motivate myself even to indulge in basic political activities possible in the prevailing situation. But as the saying goes ‘if you want the rainbow, you have got to put up with rain’. So here I am doing the best I can for the people.”

    He said that the workers and leaders of the National Conference had made immense sacrifices for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “Hundreds of our workers and several of our leaders have fallen to the bullets of militants. I thought of all this when a certain light inside me was getting dimmer during my solitary confinement. I realised I could not just walk away,” he told PTI.

    There is no doubt in Abdullah’s mind that the abrogation of Article 370 was unconstitutional which had been challenged as such on behalf of his party in the Supreme Court. “I have hope and faith in the Supreme Court which had said that they could turn the clock back if merited. I am sure that someday justice will be done to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” the NC vice president said.

    Answering a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with mainstream leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on June 24, Abdullah said that the initiative needs to be followed up on the ground to produce meaningful results.

    “The prime minister candidly spoke of reducing the “doori” (distance), both physical and mental, between Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. We now await the start of the follow-up to that meeting,” he said.

    “There is so much talk of development, development. We would welcome that if it really happened. The administration needs to go beyond inaugurating projects for which work had begun during the time of elected governments,” the NC leader said.

    About the claims of substantial improvement in the law and order situation, he said, “You cannot gag the people and then claim all is well. In the last two years people are not allowed to do even peaceful protests. The due process of law is ignored. On the one hand a rosy picture of the situation is painted and on the other hand the Centre tells Parliament that statehood will be restored when the situation normalises.”

    In any case, the people cannot any longer continue to be deprived of an elected government through free and fair elections in a full-fledged state, Abdullah emphasised. Both restoration of statehood and holding of early elections have been promised at the highest levels by the Centre.

    “That should be the order — restoration of full, undiluted statehood, followed by Assembly elections. There is no better way to reduce, to a large extent, the trust deficit to which the prime minister obliquely referred,” he said.

    Abdullah was categorical that he would not be contesting elections for the foreseeable future but made it clear, “I will continue to be with our people and serve them even if I am not in the Assembly.”

  • Senior leader Farooq Abdullah pitches for India-Pakistan dialogues leading to Jammu and Kashmir-specific CBMs

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: As the President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Srinagar on 4-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, National Conference president and Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah on Sunday pitched for sustained and result oriented dialogue between India and Pakistan and stressed that dialogue should result in J&K-specific Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).

    “Both India and Pakistan should be consistent, coherent and serious in their nascent engagement and ensure people of J&K and Ladakh live a life free from unending miseries,” Abdullah said while addressing party functionaries at two separate meetings in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

    Asserting that there is no substitute to dialogue, he said the moves and the messages indicating a thaw in relations between both the neighboring countries has put brakes on the escalating tensions.

    “For the entire chest thumping, both countries cannot win a war against each other. India and Pakistan must realize the ground reality, The more serious and consistent both nations are in settling all outstanding areas of disagreements, the better it would be for early return of lasting peace and stability to J&K and the entire region,” Abdullah said.

    “But the dialogue should result in J&K centric CBMs including resumption of cross-LoC trade through a proper banking mechanism and doing away with the present barter system. Such J&K centric CBMs will indeed help two countries solve their disagreements amicably and in an objective manner for the greater good of the people of J&K, Ladakh and the entire region,” he asserted.

    The NC president said if ties between two nations are to improve than both the nations have to come out of their shells and narrow down the space of their differences to get together on the table to work towards an environment that recognizes the concept of JK’s historical individuality, uniqueness of its socio-political complexes and restoration of its political dignity and historical selfhood.

    The India-Pakistan dialogue process, according to Abdullah, would benefit people of J&K the most.

  • Jammu, Kashmir have separate issues: Abdullah on party unit’s proposal to delimitation panel

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Amid criticism that National Conference’s proposal to the Delimitation Commission in Jammu echoed BJP’s demands, party president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the issues in the two regions of the union territory were different from each other.

    Speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes to his mother Begam Akbar Jehan at her mausoleum on the occasion of her 21st death anniversary, Abdullah said the different issues projected by the party’s Jammu unit should not worry the people.

    “Jammu has separate issues, while Kashmir has separate issues.

    Why are you worried?” the NC president told reporters when asked about the criticism by some quarters that the party’s proposal to the commission in Jammu echoed the BJP demands in framing a new criterion to delimit constituencies.

    In a reply to a question over the situation in Afghanistan and whether it would have any effect on Kashmir, Abdullah said he prays to God to bring peace to that country.

    “Afghanistan is a separate country.

    May God bring peace there and do whatever is right for the people there.

    I cannot say anything more than this because I have no relation with Afghanistan,” he said.

    Earlier, Abdullah along with his son and NC vice president Omar Abdullah and other senior leaders of the party paid floral tributes at the mausoleum of Begam Akbar Jehan — wife of NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

    The NC leaders also offered special prayers there.

  • Five-member delegation of NC to meet Delimitation Commission in J&K

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: A five-member delegation of the National Conference (NC) will meet the Delimitation Commission, arriving on a four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, a party leader said.

    The party has nominated Abdul Raheem Rather, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Mian Altaf Ahmad, Nasir Aslam Wani and Sakina Ittoo to meet the commission at a hotel here, he said.

    They will represent the party and put forward their view points and suggestions before the commission, he added.

    The commission has allotted 20 minutes to each party to put forth their views about the delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir, the leader said.

    The NC has been given a time slot of 5.10 pm to 5.30 pm, he added.

  • Leaders using sub judice argument as cover to avoid raising Article 370, says NC MP Hasnain Masoodi

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: Taking a dig at leaders of Congress and the Peoples Conference, who are hesitant to take a clear stand on Article 370 by claiming that the matter is ‘sub-judice’, senior National Conference (NC) leader and MP Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi said that the arguments advanced by these leaders is “specious and evasive”.

    “The pendency of petitions in the Supreme Court challenging August 5, 2019 decisions does not stand in the way of the Government of India to undo injustice and evoke a constitutionally suspect law,” Masoodi added.

    Masoodi said the “perpetrator of an unconstitutional act, notwithstanding challenge to the act, is always free to reverse the decision and restore majesty of law and constitutional supremacy.”

    “It also does not either forbid a person, group of persons or a political party from articulating its viewpoint or taking a stand on the matter,” he said.

    Many Valley based leaders including former J&K Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Altaf Bukhari of Apni Party and Sajjad Gani Lone of Peoples Conference are hesitant to take clear stated on Article saying that Article 370 is a ‘sub judice’ and it can only be restored by the Supreme Court.

    Masoodi said the leaders take cover under the argument to create an impression, though deceptively among the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, that the leaders are with their aspirations but cannot voice theirs viewpoint and at the same time convey to  forces inimical to aspirations of the people, that the leaders by avoiding to take a stand are facilitating implementation of their agenda.

    Masoodi said pendency of as many as 144 petitions against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) did not make political parties feel dissuaded from making CAA an election issue, vocally opposing the CAA in poll campaign and promising “no CAA in Assam if voted”.

    “Same is true about Farm Laws where though the constitutionality of the laws is going through judicial scrutiny, the parties are vying with each other to support the farmers agitation and  call the challenged laws as ‘black laws to economically exploit the peasants and agricultural labourers”, the National Conference MP said.

    Masoodi reiterated NC’s stand that the restoration of August 4, 2019 constitutional position alone would lead to durable and lasting peace in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and fulfil aspirations of the people.

    On August 5,2019 The Union Government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the J&K state into two UTs. 

    Many petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and bifurcation of the state.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Day after meeting PM Modi on Jammu & Kashmir, parties push for statehood before elections

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: A day after the Centre unveiled its roadmap for the resumption of the democratic process in J&K, leaders of several parties said restoration of statehood must precede Assembly elections, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti claimed she would not enter the fray till special status under Article 370 is restored, though her party would.

    Explaining her rationale, Mehbooba said, “Otherwise they will say I am doing it for political gains. If PDP wins the polls, I will not be chief minister.” However, she said that her party would contest the polls as it cannot leave any democratic space otherwise it will be taken away by other forces.

    Mehbooba is the third J&K leader to decide not to contest polls. NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and another party leader Aga Ruhullah have already made their entering the fray conditional to the restoration of full statehood.

    ALSO READ| PM’s meeting with J-K leaders ‘positive’ step; Centre must restore statehood before assembly polls: Karan Singh

    Senior National Conference leader and Gupkar Alliance coordinator Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi said holding of polls while J&K remains a Union Territory is not acceptable. “In Assam, they kept on hold the delimitation process and held Assembly elections while here they say delimitation will precede elections (while it remains a UT),” he pointed out.

    Another NC leader Imran Nabi Dar said the party’s position is clear: grant of statehood should be the first confidence building measure of the Centre.

    Articulating the stand of the Congress, senior party leader P Chidambaram said: “Congress and other J&K parties and leaders want statehood first and elections afterwards. Government’s response is elections first and statehood later. The horse pulls the cart. A state must conduct elections. Only such elections will be free and fair. Why does the government want the cart in front and the horse behind? It is bizarre.”

    ALSO READ| Delimitation, holding of polls in J-K important milestones in restoring statehood: Amit Shah

    Senior CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is also spokesperson of the Gupkar Alliance, told this newspaper that they had not attended the all-party meet in Delhi for holding elections. “None of us had gone there to demand elections,Tarigami said.

    Union home minister Amit Shah had on Thursday told the all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that while the Centre is committed to restoring statehood, it will happen after the delimitation process and the Assembly elections are over. “We did not get answers to our concerns. The PM did not offer anything concrete in terms of assurances,” Tarigami said.

    Different strokes

    CentreStatehood to J&K to follow delimitation exercise and Assembly elections

    National ConferenceWants restoration of statehood before J&K goes to polls

    PDPState polls after restoration of special status under Article 370

  • PM said he wants to remove ‘dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori’: Omar after meet on J&K

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to a group of leaders from Jammu and Kashmir that he wanted to remove “dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori” — distance between hearts and the distance with Delhi — National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said after a meeting to chalk out the future course of action in the union territory on Thursday.

    Talking to reporters after the meeting, Abdullah said both Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah assured that they were committed to the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

    The meeting was called nearly two years after the Centre abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

    “The takeaway from the meeting was that the prime minister said that he wanted to remove ‘dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori’ but I as well as other leaders are sure that one meeting is not enough for the same. However, a process has begun,” Abdullah, a former chief minister, said.

    The central leadership wanted to hold the assembly elections immediately after the delimitation commission submits its report but senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad urged the prime minister to restore full statehood before conducting the polls, he said.

    He said that his party president Farooq Abdullah said during the meeting that there was an urgent need to rebuild trust in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “The trust deficit among the people of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be addressed to immediately by the Centre and for that, the process of restoration of complete statehood is necessary,” he said.

    On the delimitation commission, Omar Abdullah said the central leadership was informed that the exercise in itself was defeating the very purpose with which the BJP-led government had carried out the exercise of abrogation of special status on August 5, 2019.

    “On one hand the central leadership claimed that the decision in August 2019 was taken for a complete merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India and on the other the same Jammu and Kashmir is treated differently by bringing in separate delimitation commissions for Assam and us.”

    “If the delimitation commission for Assam could be withheld and assembly elections held there, then why not for Jammu and Kashmir. Isn’t this defeating the very purpose of the central leadership,” he asked.

    The former chief minister said that even the central leadership was of the view the government could not be run by bureaucrats and that a political government needs to take charge.

    Omar Abdullah said, “Our party president has made it clear that as and when an invite for the (delimitation) commission meeting will come, we will take consider it.”

    Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that he put forward various points on behalf of his party in the meeting, which included restoration of complete statehood, followed by elections.

    “I have also asked for a rehabilitation process for Kashmir Pandits, release of political prisoners, and domicile rules whereby the Centre guarantees jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad told reporters.

    PDP president Mehbooba Mufti told reporters that the meeting went off well and that she has complimented the prime minister for initiating back-channel talks with Pakistan that led to the ceasefire agreement at the Line of Control (LoC) and decrease in infiltration levels.

    “I have requested the prime minister that, if need be, we could talk to Pakistan once again for further boosting the peace process,” she said.

    On the abrogation of Article 370, Mehbooba said that her party would continue to fight for its restoration.

    “After all the special status has not been given to us by Pakistan. It was given to us by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel. We will continue to fight for restoration of special status through legal and constitutional means,” she said.

    She also demanded resumption of cross-LoC trade which had been stopped by India following reports that it was used for smuggling of arms and ammunition and was being used to fund terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

  • Restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood must to rebuild trust: Farooq urges PM

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work towards building trust in Jammu and Kashmir by ensuring that its full statehood is restored.

    Talking to PTI immediately after a crucial meeting chaired by the prime minister here, Abdullah said his National Conference would continue to challenge through legal and constitutional means the abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.

    “There is a loss of trust which needs to be restored immediately and for that, to begin with, the Centre should work for restoration of complete statehood to Jammu and Kashmir,” Abdullah, who is a Lok Sabha member, said.

    “I conveyed to the prime minister that the statehood means reverting even the IAS and IPS cadres of Jammu and Kashmir. The state has to be in totality,” he said after the meeting that lasted for over three hours.

    The NC chief, who was accompanied by his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, said it was vital for the Centre to restore the identity of Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest so that other democratic exercises could be carried forward.

  • Farooq Abdullah holds consultations with NC leaders from Jammu over meet with PM

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday held consultations with his party leaders from Jammu over the Centre’s invite to mainstream political parties in the union territory for talks.

    The NC leaders from the Jammu region said they stand for a single Jammu and Kashmir by maintaining its unity and integrity and by respecting the wishes and aspirations of its people.

    The delegation was led by NC’s provincial president for Jammu Devender Singh Rana.

    Speaking to reporters outside Abdullah’s residence, Rana said, “Our only stand is a single J-K, to maintain its unity and integrity and respecting the wishes and aspirations of the people of J-K.”

    He said dialogue and inclusiveness is an important and vital essence of democracy.

    “Any dialogue that can take us out of this morass and which will lead to the welfare of the state of J-K and its people, we are all for it,” he said.

    Fourteen leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Abdullah, have been invited to the meeting on Thursday to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the future course of action for the union territory.

    The meeting is the first such exercise since the Centre announced the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and its bifurcation into union territories on August 5, 2019.

    Rana said the party leaders from Jammu have reposed faith in Abdullah as he is not only the president of the NC but also the tallest leader of J-K.

    “He (Abdullah) has assured us that he will represent us and the people of J-K with his wisdom and he alone and alone can take this dialogue forward for welfare of the people of J-K and anything that is for the welfare of the people of J-K,” e said.

    Rana said as far as the pluralistic Jammu is concerned, it has its own aspirations and its own desires.

    “We are for singular J-K, have always stood for the unity of J-K and equitable justice to all regions and sub-regions of J-K and we will always hold the aspirations of all the people of J-K as much as for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” he said.

    Asked if the leader from Jammu region want dialogue with Pakistan as was pitched by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday, Rana said he “will not get into the intricacies”.

    “Abdullah is going for a dialogue, it is a dialogue with the PM of India and it is an inclusive dialogue and we are very hopeful that it will lead to the betterment of the state of J-K, peace, progress and prosperity of J-K.

    “We are for J-K, for the people of J-K. We are not here for any power politics, we are here for the people of J-K and we will always stand for the people of J-K, for their welfare, their growth, their development,” he said.

    Asked if they expected the PM’s meeting will pave the way for holding Assembly elections in the Union Territory, Rana said everything is not about elections.

    “Right now, we are at the crossroads of history in J-K and dialogue is the only way forward. There is no reason to sabotage the dialogue. We are going with an open mind. Abdullah is the tallest of the tall leaders of J-K…..whether somebody likes it or not, he is the best person suited to represent J-K and represent the aspirations of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” he said.

    He added that the NC president has assured them that all three regions will be represented by him equitably and properly.

    Rana also said the people want that the aspirations of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh should be respected.

    Asked if he wanted the restoration of statehood with special status, he said, “Who does not want the state and of course, our own identity, our job protections and land protections.”