Newly formed Apni Party meets PM Modi
THE APNI PARTY, COMPRISING FORMER LEGISLATORS AND MEMBERS FROM BOTH NATIONAL CONFERENCE AND PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY, IS PROJECTING ITSELF AS THE THIRD FRONT IN THE KASHMIR VALLEY
NEWDELHI: In its first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Saturday, a delegation of the party headed by Altaf Bukhari told him that people in J&K have several apprehensions regarding their land, jobs and businesses following the nullification of Article 370.
Ghulam Hassan Mir, one of the main architects of the Apni Party, told news agency IANS before the meeting that the visit was necessary to put forward the point of view of Kashmiri people before the Centre.
“There is a new dimension to politics in J&K since the loss of statehood and nullification of Article 370. We are a regional party with a national outlook. We want to work for the welfare of our people in the region and with a national consensus. We have no confusion about it. We will work with the Centre regardless of who is in power. We are not going to mislead people and promise them anything that’s unrealistic as NC (National Conference) and PDP did,” he said.
“Today there is a convergence of issues in Kashmir and Jammu, after the abrogation of Article 370. People in both the regions are worried that if J&K youth have to compete with the youth of the rest of the country in education, jobs and business, they will end up being losers. Similarly, there is anxiety about land, environment now that anyone can buy and settle in J&K. But above all, there is a sense of disenfranchisement by the reduction of J&K state to a Union Territory. We demand restoration of statehood and we will keep raising all these issues as a party,” he said.
Though politicians in J&K have accused JKAP of being an ally of the BJP in the state, Mir dismissed it.
He added, “Detention of political leaders is not acceptable in a democracy. We all were detained and since we got released, we have been asking for the release of others as well.”