Voices of people have been stifled in J&K: Azad

JAMMU : Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said there is no democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and voices of people have been stifled after the Centre scrapped the state’s special status on August 5.

Azad was talking to the media as he concluded his six-day tour of the state.

“Despondency is not only at it’s peak in Kashmir but also in Jammu region. There is no freedom of speech, freedom of expression or freedom to agitate. People are afraid of talking about even their basic amenities,” he said.

“There is disappointment in Kashmir and the despair is also prevalent among the people in Jammu province. Except 100 or 200 people of the ruling party (BJP), nobody is happy (over the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories),” the former chief minister told reporters before leaving for Delhi.

Azad, who had on Tuesday arrived in Jammu on the secondleg of his tour, had said the situation in Kashmir is “very bad”.

The Congress leader had reached Srinagar on Friday on his maiden visit to the Valley after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. Azad, who also visited traders of Raghunath Bazar, Purani Mandi, Residency Road and other areas of the city during his visit, claimed that small and medium businesses, grocery traders and transporters have been hit hard by the decision, with some at the verge of suicide.

He claimed that the people are afraid of talking, feeling that someone was going to tip-off the government about it.