Srinagar, April 30 (RNA) : Former Cabinet Minister and Apni Party’s Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir, on Tuesday, said that the political parties that have been at the helm in Jammu and Kashmir for the past seven decades have damaged the interests of the people of this region to the core while prioritizing their own political gains over the welfare of the people.
He was addressing a public rally in Kund area of south Kashmir’s Qazigund today.
Taking a dig at the National Conference (NC) Ghulam Hassan Mir said, “The NC has been in government for most of the past 75 years. Can this party explain what it has done over the decades besides attaining and retaining power for its leaders? Initially, their leadership decided to accede to the country. Then, after some years, they began chanting provocative slogans like 'Raishumar.' After many years, the party's leadership terminated this so-called movement, stating it was not a struggle but rather aimless wandering. Subsequently, the same party and its leaders attempted to deceive people in the name of 'autonomy.' They also convinced people that they were advocating for the protection of Article 370 and sought votes for this in previous parliamentary elections.”
He further said, “If this party was truly sincere about the protection of Article 370, then why didn’t it attempt to make this article a permanent feature of the constitution during the past 75 years? Furthermore, when the central government abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019, why didn’t NC’s MPs take any action? At the very least, they should have resigned in protest of the abrogation.”
Ghulan Hassan Mir went on to say, “Today, this party claims that the Centre is taking electricity from Jammu and Kashmir, leaving its population grappling with inadequate power supply. One must ask them who handed over the power projects to the NHPC. They assert that J&K has the potential to generate more than 20 thousand megawatts of power from its water resources. In that case, why didn’t the NC try to establish any power project here during its enduring rule in J&K?”
He said that NC has always misled people through fake promises and deceptive narratives. He even blamed the NC for paving the way for violence in Jammu and Kashmir by rigging the elections in 1987.
“The same party rigged the assembly elections in 1987, and that infamous rigging caused violence here, which eventually brought destruction and bloodshed to this land for the next several decades.”
Talking about the PDP, Ghulam Hassan Mir said this party deceived people in 2014 assembly elections. He said, “In 2014 elections, PDP sought votes from the people saying that it will keep BJP away from J&K. People trusted this party and voted for it. But after winning the election, it collaborated with the same BJP. These parties have always befooled people through their fake promises and misleading narratives.”
Ghulam Hassan Mir appealed to the people to vote for the Apni Party's candidate in the Rajouri-Anantnag parliamentary constituency.
He said, “The time has come for you to stop falling prey to these deceptive parties and their leaders. You must wield the power of your vote to reject their deceitful tactics. I appeal to you to entrust your mandate to Apni Party’s candidate, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas Sahib. Give him the opportunity to represent your sentiments in parliament. I assure you that we will never let you down.”
Speaking on the occasion, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas said, “The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been deceived by political leaders time and again over the past seven decades. However, I am firm in my belief that the people themselves bear responsibility for enabling these leaders to deceive them and become scapegoats for the interests of these leaders and their parties. We have inflicted suffering on ourselves by blindly trusting traditional leaders over the years.”
He explained it further, “Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah imposed his personal will on the people of Jammu and Kashmir by acceding to India. He did so only because of an ego clash with Pakistani leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his friendship with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The people trusted Sheikh blindly to the extent that they chanted self-insulting slogans like ‘Ala karay ga, wangan karay ga, bab karay ga’ (whatever good or bad would be done; only Sheikh Abdullah is entitled to do it).”
Manhas urged people to introspect and stop falling prey to the deception of politicians.
Besides Mir and Manhas, the prominent party leaders who were present on the occasion included the party’s Chief Coordinator and District President Kulgam Abdul Majeed Paddar, DDC and District President Kulgam for the party’s Youth Wing Riyaz Ahmad, Zonal President Devsar Fayaz Ahmad Shah, DDc Vice Chairperson Kulgam Shaziya Jan, General Secretary Kulgam district Abdul Hamid Bakhshi, Block President Kund Abdul Rashid, Senior Worker Zakir Ramzan, and others.