National Conference (NC) president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said if his party is voted to power in the upcoming assembly elections, “regional autonomy will be granted in J&K within 30 days of his party forming the government”.
“A road-map in this regard has been drawn between 1996 and 2002 and the larger objective of regional autonomy will be politico-economic empowerment of all the regions of the State. He said the State assembly will also pass a resolution in the Assembly within 30 days,” said Dr. Abdullah in Jammu.
Dr. Abdullah’s NC moved a similar resolution on April 13, 1999 and was passed with a voice vote on June 26, 2000. The move triggered a major face off between Dr. Abdullah’s government and the Centre. The resolution was rejected by the Parliament without having any discussion.
Dr. Abdullah’s fresh remarks on it came on a day when he welcomed former BJP leader Gagan Bhagat into his party. Mr. Bhagat was ex-MLA of the BJP from R.S. Pura.
“A regional autonomy mechanism under overall superintendence of the State government will further strengthen the regional unity, which is imperative for singular entity of J&K,” said Dr. Abdullah.
The former Chief Minister said his party will work for equal development of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. “All faiths living in the State, be it Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs will be treated equally,” said Dr. Abdullah.
NC protest civilian killing in Srinagar
Meanwhile, NC workers in Srinagar made an attempt to carry out a rally over the killing of seven civilians in security forces firing in Pulwama on December 15. However, the police foiled the rally, which was led by NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar.
The NC workers tried to from the party headquarters at Nawai-Subh to commercial hub Lal Chowk. Security forces set up barricades to thwart the rally.
