Boycotting polls hasn’t yielded any result: Lone

SRINAGAR: Peoples’ Conference chairperson Sajjad Lone on Thursday said they want statehood of J&K back as soon as possible, but won’t make it a condition for participation in the polls.

Lone, who recently attended the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s all-party meeting, said that election boycott has not yielded any result.

“There is a need to understand that boycotting elections has yielded no results. We should look at the other side as well as keeping away the opponents could be a trap. We have boycotted elections for 15-20 years... what if it is a trap to scare away all the good people and bring in their proxies?,” Lone questioned during a press conference.

“I will not say that I will boycott the elections and the party will contest. We are all equal. If something is haram for me, it is haram for them too,” he said, hinting towards Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who recently said that they won’t contest polls till statehood and Article 370 is restored.

On PM’S all-party meet, Lone said, “Given this engagement is an ongoing process and the propriety demands that we don’t totally divulge in detail of what we said. But all we can say is that we welcome the meeting. It was held after more than two years of upheaval. The leadership demands we look towards a bright future rather than something in the recent past which we don’t agree with. We hope it starts a phase of reconciliation between Delhi and Srinagar.”

“I, as a Kashmiri and not as a political leader, felt proud that all leaders spoke for the people of Kashmir and reflected their pain in a befitting manner in the meeting,” he added.

The Peoples’ Conference chairperson said that as of now, there are no winners and losers.

“It is a long process. And we have to make an enabling environment for facilitating delivery. And that cannot be done by rhetoric. Let us not by our rhetoric create hurdles. And if delivery becomes difficult, there is only one loser which are the people of Kashmir. We must understand that by through rousing and rhetorical statements maybe we are able to address our constituents, but then that may make delivery difficult.”

We have boycotted elections for 15-20 years... what if it is a trap to scare away all the good people and bring in their proxies? SAJJAD LONE , Peoples’ Conference chairperson