Assembly elections must to empower J&K people: Bukhari

Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari addressing large public rally in Rajouri on Saturday.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari addressing large public rally in Rajouri on Saturday.

AP will form
next Govt, all regions to get representation
Gopal Sharma

JAMMU, Apr 29: Asserting that people want restoration of their honour and dignity, Apni Party president, Altaf Bukhari today demanded holding of much delayed Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir for the empowerment of people.
Addressing a large public rally in Rajouri today, Bukhari said, the people across J&K are feeling disempowered with the bureaucratic regime. Unnecessary delay in holding Assembly elections has given rise to the feeling of alienation among the people which needs to be addressed at the earliest.
Bukhari said the basic needs of the people whether electricity, clean drinking water, road, basic infrastructure for hospitals and educational institutions are not available in Rajouri and its border villages due to the poor response from the bureaucrats. As the civil administration has completely collapsed, it is ample time to restore the confidence of the people who are feeling sidelined with no elected representative or Government in place.
He claimed that the people in both the regions have similar demand to restore statehood and hold Assembly elections in J&K without delay. ” If elections can be held in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and others States and UTs in the country, why the same are delayed in J&K” Bukhari questioned.
The Apni Party supremo said that the people want their honour and dignity to be restored with the restoration of Statehood.
Bukhari further said that the Government officials have harassed people on the name of anti-encroachment drive, formalities in old age pension schemes, but forget to complete the pending developmental projects.
“Many posts in various Govt departments in Rajouri district are lying vacant but no process has been initiated to fill up the same. Even as the youth are on the roads demanding employment, the Government has failed to advertise the vacant posts in various departments for their recruitments,” he added.
He criticized the recruitment agencies which have created mistrust among the aspiring youth in J&K for various jobs with the exposure of recruitment scam.
“The situation is not favourable for the common man in J&K. The bureaucrats have failed to do anything for the welfare of J&K and its people. It has forced tendering process at the village level even in small works up to Rs 50,000 on the name of transparency and ignored the local workers of the respective villages. The youth are unemployed, but the contractors who have nexus with the ‘Babus’ are getting contracts at the village level while the development has stalled with the non-availability of funds in most of the villages/ Panchayats in Rajouri,” he alleged highlighting concerns raised by the people.
“The elected Government is responsible to the people as it works for them. However, the ‘Babus’ are not answerable to the people. If we form the next Government, we will hold that the officials ignoring developmental works and engaging the outsiders in village level works will have to face the action under rules,” he asserted.
“We went to Delhi to get protection for the job and land for the residents of J&K. However, the other political parties which ruled J&K from time to time went to Delhi to get protection for their own interests. Therefore, they cannot speak on behalf of the general masses. It is the only Apni Party which represents the people and takes the future generation towards a peaceful and bright future,” Bukhari claimed.
“The BJP and other traditional political parties have created misunderstanding among the people of two regions. They do divisive politics. However, we believe in unity and brotherhood among the people in J&K, ” he added.
It was the part of their divisive plan that the constituencies were created in the Delimitation Commission report and Rajouri-Anantnag constituency was created without the consultation of the local representatives, Bukhari said.
He said that a major attempt was made in Rajouri to divide people on the name of Gujjars, Paharis and Kashmiris. Not only the BJP, the Congress, NC, and PDP are equally responsible for creating division in the regions as well as among the people.
Bukhari claimed that Apni Part will form the next Government in J&K and all the regions will get equal representation.
“We will not allow the bulldozer politics to flourish in J&K. The people from all sections of society are against it. People want peace, prosperity and development and the Apni Party is committed to provide stability and equitable development,” he added.
Senior party leaders Ghulam Hassan Mir, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali and S Manjit Singh said that Apni Party will provide 500 units of free electricity to every household during summers in Jammu region, and 300 units of free electricity during winter season, if it comes to power. The party will also ensure enhancement of widow / old age pension up to Rs 5000, four cooking gas cylinders per year under Ujjawala scheme and Rs 1 lakh marriage assistance to the girl from poor family within a month, they added.
Senior party leaders Qamar Choudhary, Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah, Bhushan Uppal, BDC Chairperson Shamima Akthar, Raqeeq Ahmed Khan, Munshi Alam Din, Fazal Chauhan, Ch Meer Hussain, Sain Khan, Haji Jamshed and others were also present during public rally.