SRINAGAR: The Congress party unveiled its manifesto titled ‘Nyay Patra’ promising several key initiatives, including restoring full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir immediately

Also, they pledged to fill nearly 30 lakh vacancies in central government posts, implement a 10 percent quota in jobs and educational institutions for economically weaker sections, adopt the Rajasthan model of cashless insurance for universal healthcare, and pass a constitutional amendment to raise the cap on reservations for SC, ST, and OBC.

They also committed to conducting a nationwide socio-economic and caste census and guaranteed a new ‘right to apprenticeship act’ for diploma holders or graduates below 25.

Furthermore, the manifesto outlined plans for urban employment programs, abolishing the Agnipath program, and ensuring normal recruitment in the armed forces to achieve full sanctioned strength.

SRINAGAR: A day after the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed in the Lok Sabha, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday alleged that the BJP through this Bill was trying to increase their seats through backdoor in the Legislative Assembly.

On Wednesday, Lok Sabha passed the Bill which seeks to nominate two members from the Kashmiri migrant community and one representing the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Kashmir to the Legislative Assembly.

“As far as the bill is concerned, we have objections on two things. One that the Supreme Court has not announced its decision on Reorganisation (Act) and they ( BJP government) keep bringing change one after one another," Omar told reporters in south Kashmir’s Tral area after a party convention, the National Conference Vice President said.

"The second thing is that reserving these seats should have been left to the elected government. As per the Bill, the LG (Lieutenant Governor) sahib has been given the right to fill the reserved seats and it has straightway created a doubt that the Bill is aimed at helping BJP,” he said.

Omar claimed that BJP can’t win elections in J&K and through backdoor they are trying to increase the seats in Assembly.

Meanwhile, CPI (M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami has questioned the passage of two Amendment bills in the Lok Sbha.

“The passage of Amendment Bills at this juncture appears to be in sharp contrast to democratic and judicial practices,” Tarigami said.

He said it has become a standard practice of the current dispensation to take undemocratic and unconstitutional decisions.

“Moreover, the Jammu and Kashmir government had already passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004. The Act provided for reservations in recruitments and admission in professional colleges to the members of Schedule Casts, Schedule Tribes and other socially and educationally backward classes.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 replacing the terms like "weak and underprivileged classes" with "other backward classes" seems mere a linguistic revision,” the CPI (M) leader said.

He said on the one hand the government seems adamant to continue to keep the J&K people disempowered by refusing to hold Assembly elections since 2018, despite stating from the so-called delimitation process, upgradation of electoral rolls and tall claims of normalcy.

“The nomination of two members from the Kashmiri Pandit community to the Legislative Assembly reeks of the current dispensation's intentions of never rehabilitating them in their native places,” he said. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah Saturday said that normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir is a myth as encounters take place here and there during the present BJP regime. He said Rajouri during his tenure as Chief Minister was free of militancy and today encounters are breaking out there frequently.

Omar Abdullah said the BJP is not only deceiving itself but also misleading the people of the country.

He said there is no normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a party convention in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

He alleged that the BJP is escaping from elections as it is aware of the ground reality. “I don’t say that National Conference will take all the votes but it will be a force to reckon with. BJP knows its position and thus is in no mood to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. (KNT)

“We have been saying it right from the day one that BJP is in no mood to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir as they are aware people will not support them in any way”, the NC Vice President told media persons in Srinagar.

He said the BJP will not be defeated in Kashmir valley alone but will face backlash in Jammu also that is why they were reluctant to hold elections.

“Assembly elections are far away, they were talking about the Local Bodies and Panchayat elections in the Supreme Court, now it seems that too have been shelved”, Omar said and added “now only one can trust that Parliament elections could be held which they may feel difficult to defer”.
He said that every political party and citizen wants elections in J&K and alleged that the Lieutenant Governor is the only one who opposes the holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Probably only Lieutenant Governor and the people around him does not want to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Except them if you ask anybody on the road about elections, he will definitely want elections to be held in Jammu and Kashmir”, Omar said.

The NC Vice President said that whoever party the people would vote, but everyone wants elections to be held in Jammu and Kashmir.

Asked about the J&K Director General of Police who claimed to make Jammu and Kashmir terror free, Omar said that let him do so.

“We all want to see Jammu and Kashmir terror free. If anybody after security forces has sacrificed during the past 35 years, it is the National Conference whose thousands of workers lost their lives.

Nobody from our side would say that DGP has said wrong. Let them make Jammu and Kashmir terror free. What much of a role we have to play as we too want to see Jammu Kashmir terror free to restore peace”, Omar said.

“But nothing will happen from rhetoric. How much the people are terror free came to know after the Kokernag incident where a colonel, a Major and a Deputy Superintendent of Police besides a jawan were killed. Your aim is to make J&K terror free and let it be visible on ground”, he asked.

“Make J&K terror free and lift the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA)”, Omar said and added “we would be the first among the people who will applaud and praise your job”.
Regarding the meeting called by the opposition leaders in Jammu, Omar said they would sit and talk to each other on the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said Farooq Abdullah deliberately decided to hold the meeting in Jammu so that the people of Jammu should not feel ignored and participate easily to have deliberations on the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir. (UNI)

“God forbid if BJP will come to power again in Parliamentary polls in 2024, it will scrap the election process across the country”, Mehbooba told reporters in Srinagar on Wednesday.
The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister was reacting to the rumours that centre may defer the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I think BJP has a feeling that they will be shunted out from Jammu as the people are coming out on roads against the present dispensation”, She said and added “the system they had created in Kashmir is not working as people are not ready to accept the parties they support”.

That is why they (BJP) may defer the elections or are likely to be going to do so, she added.

“I think what much of the experiments they (BJP) did on Jammu and Kashmir, especially their attempts to build a new crop of “hybrid political system” have completely failed”, Mehbooba said.

“The People of Jammu feel they have been betrayed by BJP and provoked against the Kashmiri people to divide them on religious lines”, She said.

"The Government of India earlier was showing the world a drama that we held panchayat elections and will hold local bodies’ elections… but it seems they have now stopped the pretense," she said.

Mehbooba said that BJP on the one side in the supreme court said that the situation has improved in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and “streams of milk” are flowing there and people are very happy.
"But on the other side they are saying that the elections could not be held as the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not good," she added. (UNI)

She said BJP was engaged in "dirty" politics after a leader of the party Darakhshan Andrabi who is the Chairperson J&K Waqf Board visited the residence of Islamic scholar Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri who was recently released on court orders.

“Religious leaders now released & felicitated by BJP after being slapped with PSA and were earlier accused of being a security threat by the ruling party. While they engage in dirty political games wonder what it will take to free other preachers accused of the same crime? Ishfaq Bukhari, Abdul Majid Dar, Manzoor Misbahi & Fayaz Shah continue to languish in jail,” Mufti posted on X.

On September 9, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court quashed detention of two religious clerics of Kashmir, Maulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi and Mushtaq Ahmed Veeri, who were under detention since last year. Dawoodi, a Barelvi scholar, is head of “Tehreek e Soutul Auliya” and Veeri, is a religious leader of Jamiat ahle Hadees (JaH) in Anantnag.

Darakhshan Andrabi posted on X that she visited the residence of Veeri.

“Visited the residence of Islamic Scholar & Eminent Preacher #MaulanaMushtaqAhmadVeeri Sahib and congratulated him personally. Our religious scholars are very precious for the society. Wished him good luck. I am overwhelmed by his affection and prayers for me,” she said, while posting two pictures with religious preacher.

PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukahri said "there is irony and then there is BJP."

“After arresting the religious scholars alleging them of being anti-nationals, the party felicitates them after being released through court orders,” he said. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: Senior BJP leader Mr Devender Singh Rana today lashed out at Pakistan and some Kashmiri leaders, trying to sabotage peaceful atmosphere, by sending a misleading message across the country on normalcy in the Valley to push forward the agenda of the terror-secessionist ecosystem.

He said Pakistan’s latest move to appoint Mishaal Hussain Malik as Human Rights Minister hailed by certain Kashmiri leaders is an indication to slate the Kashmir sabotage plan across. But they forget that New Delhi is a New Delhi of New India which will not only fail all their attempts but teach them a lesson on their soil if need arises, he added.

“Their politics over the last seven decades has thrived  on conflict, disorder and mayhem”, Mr Rana said while interacting with various deputations during weekly public hearing at the BJP headquarters here,  along with Mrs Veenu Khanna, BJP State Secretary and Mr Danish Mishra Vice President , BJP Yuva Morcha, adding that transformed Kashmir has instilled new life, new hope for Kashmiris and has cast a spell of doom on certain political players of J&K and their patrons across.

“1.80 crore tourists have visited Jammu and Kashmir last year and two crores are expected this year in the aftermath of normalcy dawning with shutdown and stone pelting culture becoming a nightmare of the past”, Mr Rana said, asking isn’t  it a parameter of normalcy.

He attributed the false propaganda of Pakistan and Kashmiri dejected political players as a sinister design to deprive the people of Kashmir of their legitimate right to live peacefully and pursue their economic activities, which appeared to be a distant dream a few years ago. The Valley based so-called mainstream political class has a vested interest in boiling Kashmir to remain glued to power. On the one side they had been assuring the Delhi power corridors about working towards ending the unrest in the valley and on the other hand they were exploiting religious and separatist sentiments back home. The double edged weapon served their political interests well till the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, which ended their political hegemony, deceit and duplicity. Isn’t it a food for thought for the peace loving people of Kashmir to understand how the hartal and shutdown culture came to an end after disempowering the political parties with vested interest, he asked, seeking an independent probe to find the truth of the widespread belief that the stone pelting had been a weapon of political class.

“By playing double game, the politicians like Mehbooba Mufti and others have neither done any good to the people of Kashmir nor to New Delhi, which sincerely endeavoured for peace, progress and development of Jammu and Kashmir”, Mr Devender Rana said, adding that these rejected politicians have been pursuing politics of convenience during the past over seven decades. They can abuse New Delhi from rooftops and belittle the pride of innocent Kashmiris at will, he said and cited how Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister mocked at the youngsters killed during countering stone-pelting by saying “Woh Kya Toffee Lene Gaye Thay”. But for the snub of a senior Union Minister flanking her in the presser, she would not have stopped there, he observed, saying this speaks volumes about the sensitivities of politicians with vested interest.

Mr Devender Rana hoped that the people of Kashmir would foil the game plan of these leaders, who were feeling uncomfortable due to economic activity and tourism trade in the Valley besides large scale investments pouring in to carve out Naya Jammu and Kashmir as per the dreams of suffering masses.

“When doubts about normalcy are echoed by the persons having held constitutional positions, the tourists across the nation and abroad will have double thoughts before embarking on holidaying in the serene and peaceful Valley”, he said, adding this will certainly jeopardise the ongoing brisk and peak tourism season. He hoped that the right thinking people will take cognizance of such anti-Kashmir rhetoric and stand for the economic interests of lakhs of families, who have got a reason to cheer after nearly three decades.

SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that not only the people of J&K and country but the entire world is watching Supreme Court proceedings in Article 370.She said the Supreme Court is the last ray of hope that can uphold supremacy of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday started hearing on the petitions challenging the Union government’s decision to revoke Article 370 on August 5, 2019 that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The former chief minister said they only want the Supreme Court to ensure that India is governed as per its Constitution.

“Entire world is watching Supreme Court proceedings in Article 370. In 1947 Jammu and Kashmir, despite being a Muslim majority state, rejected the two-nation theory based on religion and joined hands with India . We were granted assurances by the country leadership under the Constitution,” she told reporters in Srinagar. Mufti said these guarantees to people of J&K were not given by China or any neighbouring country, but by the Constitution of India.

“Under Article 370, it was the most beautiful federal structure,” she said.
She said it is only about Article 370 but the Supreme Court will have to see should the country run on the Constitution or any party's political agenda.

She alleged the institutions in the country have been subverted by the present government.
“The apex court remains the only institution that can save the Constitution,” Mufti said.

Earlier the day, National Conference Vice President Omat Abdullah said they moved to the Supreme Court on Article 370 abrogation hoping for justice. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Monday asked people of Jammu and Kashmir to forge unity to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion of 24th foundation day of PDP at Sher-e-Kashmir Park in Srinagar, Mehbooba urged people of Jammu and Kashmir to forge unity to defeat BJP.

“If Shia, Sunni, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christians, Bodh, Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pahari forge unity, BJP would be forced to raise “white flag”, she said.

Mehbooba said PDP is not going to raise the “white flag” which BJP wants.

The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that BJP has seen what is going on in Manipur. “No issue is being sorted out with the power of gun”, she said and added “every issue is settled on the basis of humanity”.

The PDP President said “I want to tell the BJP that in Lal Chowk in 1949, the late Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the national tricolor in presence of thousands of people and today you are coming to unfurl the flag amid unprecedented security arrangements and no Kashmiri stands there…this you call the achievement”.

She said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir joined hands with India in 1949 just for their safeguard, their identity, religion and brotherhood will be safe.

'"Unfortunately you have destroyed everything just for your votes. Today BJP is going to the Supreme Court just to say that everything is alright in Jammu and Kashmir, "Mehbooba said.

“I want to tell the Supreme Court to come and see how many raids are being conducted by the security agencies of ED, NIA, SIA SUI everyday”, She said and added “the Judiciary must observe why it is happening here”.

If there is everything alright in Kashmir why these raids are being conducted and why the youth of Kashmir are in jails, she questioned.

Mehbooba alleged that if a youth raising his voice is being booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).

“I want to tell the Judiciary to see after 2019 how many youth have been arrested and put in outside jails without any trial. Even parents are not being allowed to meet their kith and kin on one or the other pretext”, she alleged.

The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that her father and late Union Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed had offered a dialogue to separatists when he was the Home Minister.

She said the separatists refused as they were holding guns and had believed it would settle their issue which did not happen resulting in people continuously suffering.
PDP has not started any dispute.

"Neither have we told people one day Pakistan and another day India. We have told people that PDP is a party which believes in respectful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue," she said.

Mehbooba said PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had put a precondition before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015, seeking an assurance on Article 370 of the constitution that it would not be abolished by the centre. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir president, Ravinder Raina on Saturday said that the party is fully ready for Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the Union Territory.

Talking to reporters, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), he urged the Election Commission of India to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir. 

In a response to a question over Omar Abdullah’s statement that BJP is scared of facing the elections, Raina said that the decision regarding elections is to be taken by ECI only and not by any party president or the Prime Minister.
 
“Omar Abdullah knows it well that decision on elections is taken by the Election Commission of India, not by any party president or the Prime Minister. We request ECI to make a decision and BJP is fully ready for assembly elections in,” he said. (KNO)

SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday claimed that BJP will be wiped out in the next assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar also said that BJP will not find its address in Kashmir.

“The BJP is ruling us without elections and it is the reason that they are running away from the assembly election as they know they will face defeat in Kashmir as well as in Jammu (regions),” Omar told reporters in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

The NC leader said that BJP will be wiped out in the assembly election and they will not find any address.

“If they (BJP) have the guts, hold assembly elections along with parliamentary elections,” Omar said.

Omar expressed his surprise that the Union government could hold panchayat polls, make preparations for urban local bodies polls, prepare for DDC elections and also Parliament elections, but they could not prepare for assembly elections.

“ The individuals who are uncrowned kings would no longer have their addresses once assembly elections are held,” he said.

Omar said the government should give a reason, which the world would like to know that they can hold Lok Sabha elections but not assembly elections.

He said BJP is scared to face elections and had they not been, elections would have been held.

Reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering Omar said they condemn the way they treated the minister. He said such things have been happening in every state and opposition leaders.

“According to medical reports, three of his arteries are blocked …The way he was treated, the Central government and agencies should think about their behavior,” Omar said. (UNI)