Farooq visits Omar in Sub-Jail
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 14: Congress general secretary and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad today called for restoration of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and release of all political leaders.
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He said this after meeting National Conference (NC) president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah who was released yesterday after spending more than seven months in detention. Azad met Abdullah at his residence in Gupkar area of the city here in the afternoon. The meeting lasted for two hours and after that both of them walked out during which Azad spoke to media.
Azad called for restoration of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and release of all political leaders. “First and foremost, democracy should be restored in J&K for any political process to start,” he said.
He also called for the release of all leaders and individuals, including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who have been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
“…Democracy can be restored once all the leaders behind bars — either in jails or in guest houses or under particular Act — are released. Let every individual of J&K be released from jail. Let the political process start… Let democracy prevail and then we can pick up other fights,” he said.
“If the Government is really intending to bring peace and development in Kashmir, that will not be achieved by detaining the leaders and caging them like birds; they will have to be released, political process has to be started”, Azad said.
He added that nothing has been achieved with regard to development in Jammu and Kashmir since August last year. “Nothing, with regard to the development in J&K, has been achieved. With the result there is immense unemployment; tourism is down and so is the handicraft industry. Even in Jammu, the transport is down and so is the industry”, he said.
The Congress leader said that Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be immediately restored. “To put an end to all this, there is a need to immediately release all the political leaders and kick-start a political process; and in that political process, the status of UT given to J&K must be ended and Statehood should be restored. Downgrading the State to UT was an insult to the people of J&K”, he said.
Azad said that India is famous for democracy but questioned it on jailing former legislators, Ministers. “Political process is the fundamental of any democracy. India is not famous for its size; it is rather famous for the democracy—but not this kind of democracy where three former Chief Ministers are under detention for last more than 7 months. So, here, if all the ex-ministers, MLAs, MLCs and other people are under detentions, what sort of democracy is this?” he asked.
Without naming the Apni Party, Azad said that the parties created by agencies are not going to run Jammu and Kashmir. “There have been many attempts to create such parties in last 47 years. The Government and Jammu and Kashmir will be run by the party that is elected by people”, he said.
“I know what he (Farooq) would have gone through during this period of detention; we were literally yearning to see you walk out of detention. Keeping in view the harshness of winters this season as well as his health, it was an excess on the part of the Government”, he said.
Meanwhile, a day after Government released Dr Farooq Abdullah, met his son and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at Sub-Jail Hari Niwas.
It was an emotional meeting when Abdullah met his son Omar who is lodged in Sub-Jail at Hari Niwas in Srinagar since August last year. He drove to Hari Niwas which is few hundred meters away from his residence and reached there at around 11 a.m.
The meeting lasted for one hour during which they discussed situation of Jammu and Kashmir post August 5, 2019 when Centre scrapped special status of J&K.
Abdullah had applied for permission to meet his jailed son which was granted and was allowed to meet Omar.
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