J&K statehood status at root of holistic dev:Bukhari

Srinagar, Apr 8: Asserting that the restoration of statehood remains a prerequisite for the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir, Apni Party (AP) president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Thursday said bureaucratic set-up stands impuissant for efficiently addressing the public grievances any longer.

“Apni Party has been repeatedly urging the government of India not to delay the restoration of statehood to J&K. And we are of firm belief that the Statehood alone can prove panacea to the people’s sufferings,” former minister Bukhari said while addressing a day-long convention held in south Kashmir district of Anantnag.

Bukhari said the rising unemployment rates and the existing sluggish pace in relation with developmental projects in J&K indicate that a formally elected government remains the dire need of the hour.

“Our Party has from day one stressed on the issues that matter most to the public welfare and that which affects their routine lives. Our motto has remained humble but without any conning or emotive verbose. We follow the tangible issues while shunning demagogy,” he said.

He also said many political parties had proclaimed that after the District Development Council (DDC) elections are over, they will strive to reinstate the pre-August 5, 2019 position in Jammu and Kashmir but until now nothing concrete has been yielded on ground.

“The deceptive and selfish slogans that we heard during the DDC elections raised by certain political parties have somehow disappeared into the blue. Their elected candidates are in the offices now while the talk of the restoration of Article-370 appears to be buried under the rubble. This is an act of treachery wherein they again brazenly tried to befool the people,” he observed.

He said the people of J&K are not naïve. They are best to judge the political parties on the merit of their public welfare activities rather than mere hollow lip-service.

“The people of J&K are awake and they understand it well those who have tried to con them and who are putting efforts into the interest of public welfare. Apni Party has always tried to alleviate the grievances of the people and just one-year bears witness that without having any vested executive powers, we still proved that if ‘Sincerity in Effort’ and ‘Politics of Truth’ is followed, anything can be achieved in a political spectrum,” Bukhari said.

Furthermore, he impressed on the party workers to work diligently for the public welfare and expansively run the membership drive in district Anantnag.

The district body members and workers thanked the leadership for visiting Anantnag and pledged to strengthen the party at grassroot level.