J&K Opposition parties to meet national leaders, EC to seek statehood, early Assembly polls

On whether J&K Oppn delegation will also meet PM Modi and Amit Shah during their Delhi visit, Farooq Abdullah said they will decide it only after meeting other national leaders

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National Conference president and ex-chief minister Farooq Abdullah

Accusing the Jammu and Kashmir administration of allegedly bringing hardships to the people, National Conference president and ex-chief minister Farooq Abdullah said Saturday that all the Opposition leaders from the Union Territory will visit Delhi to seek support from the national leaders of various parties for restoration of J&K’s statehood. He said this delegation will also meet the Election Commission to demand the conduct of early Assembly elections in J&K.

After a three-hour-long meeting with a slew of Opposition parties at his residence in Jammu, Abdullah said their meeting discussed the prevailing situation in the UT and the ways and means to pull it out of its current morass, deciding to meet the national leaders in Delhi to seek their support in getting back J&K’s statehood. “We want a powerful statehood like other states in the country and not truncated statehood,’’ he said, adding that they will also apprise the national leaders of J&K’s situation so that it could be raised forcefully in Parliament during the coming session.

“We will also be meeting the Election Commission for early holding of Assembly elections,’’ Abdullah said, pointing out that the Assembly polls have not been held in J&K since 2014 despite the fact that there has been a Supreme Court ruling that the polls must be held within six months of dismissal of an elected government.

Referring to the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the situation in J&K was “normal” and that a meeting of the G-20 nations will also be held in the Valley in May, Abdullah asked why elections could not held then given such a situation.

Asked whether the J&K Opposition delegation will also meet PM Modi and Shah during their Delhi visit, he said they will decide it only after meeting other national leaders. “Thereafter, we will meet again in Jammu and also in Kashmir before deciding our future course of action,’’ he said.

Charging that a “blacklisted’’ company has been awarded the contract for conducting the Computer Based Test (CBT) for selection of candidates for various government vacancies advertised by the J&K State Services Selection Board (JKSSSB), the National Conference chief also accused the UT government of allegedly committing atrocities on local youth who have been protesting against it. “On one hand, they talk of rooting out corruption, but the situation is before all of you. They (JKSSSB) are giving contract to a blacklisted company,’’ he said, asking the administration, “Why you are not disbanding it… Why it is necessary to go with that company?”

Abdullah also slammed the recent demolition drive by the administration across the UT, especially when it could not provide employment, he charged, to the people. “You promised 50,000 jobs many years ago,’’ he asked the administration, asking “how many have been appointed so far’’.

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CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami, J&K Congress president Vikar Rasool Wani, PDP leader Amrik Singh Reen, National Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader T S Tony, Dogra Sadar Sabha president Gulchain Singh Charak and Shiv Sena (UTB) leader Manish Sahni were among the leaders who reportedly attended the meeting held by Abdullah.