Pitching for a united front, three former legislators in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday called all the regional parties to contest the upcoming assembly elections jointly to “overcome the grave situation the state is facing”.
“Asking all pro-people voices to unite, Gh. Hassan Mir, Hakim Mohammad Yaseen and Er. Rasheed have suggested for collective efforts to overcome the grave situation the state of J&K is facing under current era of uncertainty,” said a joint statement, issued by the trio.
“After threadbare deliberations during a joint meeting, the leaders said that it sounded good to see two former Chief Ministers including Mehbooba Mufti and Omer Abdullah showing much concern about protecting the special status of the state.
They said Mehbooba Mufti’s appeal asking various political forces to come together should be given due hearing.
“The two former Chief Ministers need to be reminded that our parties have supported both the chief ministers in and outside assembly whenever situation truly demanded the same. Omer Abdullah had raised valid concerns about division of votes in Kashmir province,” said the statement.
“Omer Sahab needs to be reminded that whenever NC or PDP feel insecure not for the interest of Kashmiris but only for the reason that their duplicity and self-centered politics gets exposed, both the parties talk of division of votes, regional aspirations and do waste no time in calling everyone as New Delhi’s agent without having any sincere self-introspection.”
The trio said that it was imperative upon the saner voices to unite and prevent division of votes. “However, without entering into blame game that who is responsible for division of votes, it is imperative upon all saner voices to unite and ensure that votes of regional parties don’t get divided,” they said.
“While the state is passing through the crucial phase and not only the special status and identity of the state is at stake, the two countries are at the verge of war and people of J&K feel insecure at all fronts.”
They said it was the moral responsibility of all forces to unite and protect the rights of entire state and various identities within the state.
“Three leaders suggested that if Mehbooba Mufti and Omer Abdullah sincerely believe that regional forces need to be united then all like-minded political forces must contest upcoming elections together and form a joint strategy not only to fight for protecting the special status of the state but to move forward for resolving the larger issues,” added the statement.
Clarifying that the proposed alliance shouldn’t be seen against any particular region or the community, they said: “The alliance so formed should not be seen against any region or community as the fact of the matter is that it is Kashmiris who are being disempowered everywhere,” they said while committing their full support.
