Gupkar leaders to meet at Farooq’s residence tomorrow
SRINAGAR: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is likely to meet here on Tuesday to discuss the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir and have wider consultations on the way forward.
The PAGD is an alliance of six mainstream political parties seeking the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, which was revoked by the Centre in August 2019.
A leader, pleading anonymity, said the meeting will take place at alliance chairman Farooq Abdullah’s residence at Gupkar at around 11am.
“This meeting will be a different one from the earlier ones. This time it is not only the top leadership of the constituent parties which has been invited for consultations but the middle rung leadership as well,” he said.
The leader said it has been left to the alliance parties to select the party leaders for the meeting. “The participants will be from the length and breadth of the Valley and we expect around 150-200 leaders to take part in the meeting,” he said.
The meeting has been called to discuss the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir and “have wider consultations on various issues,” he said.
“It (the meeting) will discuss the way forward and it is the first such attempt in Kashmir by the alliance to get a broader perspective on the issues. We wanted to have this kind of consultation before but factors like Covid prevented such a gathering,” the leader added. Meanwhile, the National Conference (NC) on Saturday denounced the jibe taken by the People’s Conference at a meeting of Opposition parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi as “unfounded and out of sync with reality”.
The People’s Conference said the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir should either get the national Opposition to endorse the demand for restoration of Article 370 so that there is some hope in the future or just keep out of the united platform.
Centre not afraid of Mufti’s false threats, says BJP leader
Slamming former J&K CM and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti over her demand to restore Article 370 in the UT, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday said the Centre is not afraid of Mufti’s false threats.
Vijayvargiya said people of J&K have recognised her real face of Mufti. Vijayvargiya said, “Centre does not care about Mehbooba Mufti’s false threats. Leaders who exploited J&K have been exposed.”