Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 13: Holding the State Government directly responsible for the killing of Panchs and Sarpanchs, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference has demanded imposition of Governor rule in the State for saving democracy at grass root level.
Reacting over the killing of their senior leader and Sarpanch Habibullah Mir, AJKPC leaders however, made it clear that they would not resign and continue to uphold the flag of democracy in the State for which their four colleagues have made their sacrifices so far.
Talking to media persons, here today AJKPC chairman Shafiq Mir sought intervention of the Central Government to save grass root level democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and said that Omar Government has no moral right to continue since it has totally failed to protect even the elected leaders of the community.
While condemning the recent killing of AJKPC’s Sarpanch leader Habibullah Mir, general secretary of the AJKPC Anil Sharma alleged that elected Panchayat members were being targeted by militants as well as the Government. “However, we will not succumb to the pressure of militants as well as the Government and no Panchayat member will resign”, he maintained and bowed to uphold the flag of democracy in Jammu Kashmir.
Lashing out at recently elected MLCs from Panchayat quota, Mir asked them to come out and stand with the Panchayat members at this stage. “Mere statements under protection don’t serve any purpose”, he said.
Others who addressed the press conference, included Sarpanch Alam Choudhary, Girdhari Lal Raman Wazir, Vimla Devi and Panch Jehangir Alam.