Abdullah said that parties in Kashmir had come together with the common goal to demand the restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir
Clarion India
SRINAGAR — National Conference president and Lok Sabha member Farooq Abdullah said that the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) is against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and “not anti-national”.
The alliance which was floated earlier this month is an amalgamation of regional political parties in Kashmir demanding restoration of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status.
“I want to tell you that this is a false propaganda by the BJP that PAGD is anti-national. I want to tell them that this is not true. There is no doubt that it is anti-BJP but it is not anti-national,” Abdullah told media persons in Srinagar on Saturday.
He said that the abrogation of the special status went against the federal principles of the country, and accused BJP of breaking this structure.
On August 5, 2019, the Modi government revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, and bifurcated it into two Union territories–J&K with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one. The authorities enforced unprecedented military lockdown to scuttle any chances of public revolt in the Kashmir Valley.
Abdullah, who represents the Srinagar constituency in the Lok Sabha, said that parties in Kashmir had come together with the common goal to demand the restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir which included Ladakh as well. “Our demand is nothing more than that…We are not anti-national.”
He accused BJP of spreading propaganda against the members of the alliance in the country to divide them on religious lines.
Abdullah was on Saturday unanimously chosen as the chairman of PAGD while People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti will be his deputy.
CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami is the convener of the alliance, while Sajjad Lone of People’s Conference has been named as the spokesperson.
The amalgam leaders, who met at the residence of Mehbooba Mufti for the first time after its formation, adopted the flag of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir as its symbol.
The alliance plans to come out with a white paper within a month on governance in Jammu and Kashmir over the past one year since the abrogation of Article 370, Lone told reporters after the meeting.
