GhulamNabi
Azad said the party also expresses its grave concern over the continued escalation
along the Indo-Pak border
JAMMU:
The Congress on Friday demanded the restoration of statehood to Jammu
andKashmir, safeguards to jobs and property for the local people and release of
all political leaders to facilitate early assembly polls in the erstwhile state.
A
resolution in this regard was passed in an executive committee meeting of the
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), chaired by senior party
leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Gulam Ahmed Mir, here."We passed
a unanimous resolution here demanding restoration of full statehood, protection
to jobs and property rights to the people of J and K and release of all
political leaders and workers to facilitate early assembly polls," Azad
told reporters after the conclusion of the meeting. He said Jammu and Kashmir
is one of the oldest states and restoration of the statehood will do justice to
its people."J and K is a border state, which shares borders with China and
Pakistan. The BJP government should take on board the people of J and K
and the northeast and not play with fire," Azad said.
The
Congress expresses its deep solidarity with the people of J and K who underwent
numerous kinds of curbs and curtailments of their civil rights and liberties
during the past over five months after the abrogation of the special status to
their state under Article370 of the Constitution, he said."The erstwhile
state was put into a state of undeclared emergency whereby all mainstream
opposition leaders and activists were put to severe restrictions including
detentions and some of them under the stringent provisions of law for
undeclared periods," he said.
"GoI
hurt the self-esteem of the people by reducing status of J and K from statehood
to a UT, a phenomenon never happened in the 72 years of India's
independence," he added. Azad said the party also expresses its grave
concern over the continued escalation along the Indo-Pak border.
While
condemning such actions of Pakistan against our soldiers and civilians in the
strongest possible words, we urge the Centre to take all possible and urgent
steps to prevent and check Pakistan from indulging in such mischiefs and
misadventures on borders, he added. The Modi government continues to harp on
its diversionary tactics, the most recent being the dispatching of alarge team
of central ministers to J and K in view of the growing resentment against the
government on various issues and to cover up the failures of the BJP government
on various fronts especially the economic crises facing the Jammu and Kashmir,
he said.
Azad
said those who restored the democracy in J and K by participating in elections
despite militancy have been put behind bars and it is time for the government
to take everyone on board. Azad parried a question on Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi's tweet hitting at the NIA chief over the case of DSP Davinder Singh,
saying he was not aware about it.
Ambika
Soni said that there is no question of any Congress leader joining any group or
front allegedly being created in the UT.
Mir,
who is the JKPCC president, said, "We are sure that unless the established
mainstream political parties and other political entities are not allowed to
function and perform their usual political activities, no meaningful and
credible political process can take off and succeed."The resolution by the
Congress said, "The party demands restoration of full statehood status to
Jammu and Kashmir, adequate legal and constitutional guarantees to safeguard
the rights of locals over land, jobs and admissions in professional
courses," the resolution said."All leaders and activists of the
Congress and other political entities, detained during the period should be released
forthwith and all curbs and restrictions on mainstream political parties, their
leaders and activists should be lifted to allow them to resume their usual
political activities to create a congenial and conducive political atmosphere
for a meaningful and credible political process to pave way for holding of
early Assembly elections," it further said. The Centre had on August 5
last year abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370
and bifurcated it into union territories.
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