J&K Apni Party (JKAP) president Altaf Bukhari met Lt. Governor G.C. Murmu in Jammu on Tuesday and called for restoration of statehood “to overcome the simmering political disengagement prevalent among the people”.
Mr. Bukhari, who has discussed several issues faced by the people with the Governor, told the party workers in Jammu that the restoration was “the only practical step to bring good governance, economic development and peace and stability to the region”.
“The situation in J&K has reached a stage where the people have virtually lost trust in the institution of governance and political process. Lack of responsiveness in the government offices has added to the existing levels of alienation and discontentment,” Mr. Bukhari said.
LG administration weaving lies: PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday slammed the Lt. Governor’s administration for “trying to weave a narrative of lies, while unsuccessfully trying to deflect attention from its anti-people policies”.
A PDP spokesman said the Delhi’s dispensation in J&K has only been busy executing the RSS’ plans aimed at disempowering and disenfranchising the people of J&K, changing its Muslim majority character by engineering demographic change and facilitating organised loot of the natural resources at the hands of non-state subjects.
“The urgency with which the administration has gone for illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional lawmaking like that of domicile and the recent one of designating areas as ‘strategic’ is reflective of its only priority in J&K.”
Lies exposed
He said there was a regular attempt to demonise the political representatives, the State government and local professionals “as the roadblock in development that the Union government wanted to usher in”. “But the last two years of New Delhi’s direct rule have completely exposed their lies,” he said.
According to the spokesman, a cursory look at the status of various projects under the Prime Minister’s Development Programme reveals the ‘rot’. “Components that were to be executed by various Central agencies have witnessed an unending delay, some haven’t even taken off. Tourism projects and AIIMS in both the divisions are glaring examples of this failure. The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remains in shambles.”
