First in 13 months, PDP holds full session, ‘vows to fight for dignity’

SRINAGAR: In the first meeting of its senior leaders since Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked last year, the PDP on Monday resolved it would keep fighting to restore the dignity and rights of people that were "snatched illegally", a party spokesman said.
The PDP held a full session of its senior leaders and party office-bearers at its headquarters here as leaders were allowed to step out of their residences after over a year, he said.
Several political leaders were detained after the Centre abrogated the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year and divided it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The meeting was chaired by PDP vice-president Abdul Rehman Veeri in the absence of party president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who continues to be in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
PDP leaders observed during the meeting that the internal situation of Jammu and Kashmir is "very precarious" and the situation at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is on the boil , the spokesman said.
Therefore, in the meeting, it was resolved that the party would continue to fight for resolution of the basic issue and advocate dialogue and reconciliation with all the stakeholders, as envisaged in the roadmap of our party which has become even more relevant today than ever before, he said.
The spokesman said the party will continue to work for accomplishing the vision of its founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who envisaged that Jammu and Kashmir has to become a bridge of peace rather than a battlefield in order to achieve everlasting peace in the whole subcontinent.
During deliberations in the meeting, the spokesman said, it was observed that post August 5, 2019, a false semblance of normalcy is being created which in fact resembles the peace of a graveyard .
People are still shell-shocked and unable to come to terms with what has happened. The situation has created a kind of a stalemate where nothing except all kinds of anti-Kashmiri steps like domicile laws etc are being pushed in a hurry. These steps are further adding to the anger and frustration of people, whose resolve to fight this injustice gets stronger with time, he said.
The PDP said that while fighting for every inch to restore the dignity and rights of people that were snatched illegally from us , the party would continue to struggle for the resolution of the larger cause of Jammu and Kashmir under the uncompromising leadership of Mehbooba Mufti.
The party also demanded immediate release of all political detainees irrespective of their political ideology, whether lodged in Kashmir or outside, the spokesman said.
He said the meeting also expressed deep anguish over the recent spree of killing of innocent people from Shopian to Sopore to Batamaloo and demanded that perpetrators be brought to book and families be given justice .
It was also resolved that the party stands by the thousands of youngsters of Kashmir who are routinely harassed and humiliated at the hands of security forces and other agencies by means of wrongful cases against them, random arrests, and curbs even on the right to express themselves, the PDP spokesman said.
Such actions against our youth are unacceptable and would be resisted, he added.
The meeting condemned the targeting of the journalist fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir wherein a case is being registered at the drop of a hat for merely reporting the facts of the ground , the spokesman said.
He said that all this is being done to threaten and muzzle independent voices.
The spokesman said the meeting was attended by senior leaders of the party, including former ministers and legislators.