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Restoration of Article 370, probe into 1987 polls rigging charges in People’s Conference manifesto
Speaking at the launch in Srinagar, Sajad Lone said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been relegated to “mute bystanders” post 2019
People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone on Thursday released the party’s manifesto highlighting the Kashmir resolution, vowing to fight for restoration of Article 370 and statehood while also promising a judicial commission to probe the alleged rigging of 1987 assembly election.
Speaking at the launch in Srinagar, Lone said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been relegated to “mute bystanders” post 2019.
He added that the party was committed to fight for the restoration of Article 370, Article 35-A and statehood and will support all efforts within and outside the legislative forums to restore the pre-2019 constitutional position.
“My foreword in the manifesto points out how, after 2019, we were disempowered completely. How from being one of the most politically empowered states in the country, we have been relegated to a UT. We have been stripped of Articles 370 and 35A and how the people of J&K, particularly Kashmir, have been turned into mute bystanders in the past five years,” Lone said at the launch in Srinagar.
Lone said the residents have been “crowded out” in police and administrative jobs.
The manifesto also mentions the practice of Kashmiris being blacklisted by security agencies, which bars them from getting jobs, passports and government contracts.
“It is ironic that an entire family is blacklisted and held accountable for the misconduct of a single member of the family. Each case should be taken up on individual merit without affecting the future course of its now third and fourth generations… We will strive towards this end,” it said.
The party said the key to peace and prosperity in the region lies in an amicable resolution of the Kashmir issue which takes into account the aspirations of its main stakeholders — the people of Kashmir.
“To resolve the Kashmir issue, there is no dearth of solutions. It is the lack of leadership and lack of statesmanship especially in India and Pakistan…The day two statesmen sit in New Delhi and Islamabad they will resolve this,” Lone said.
A former separatist from north Kashmir, Lone joined politics by contesting Parliamentary elections in 2009 and ultimately formed his own political party.
The People’s Conference manifesto also promised a probe into the rigging of 1987 assembly elections. “Most of the prisoners perishing in jails today are political prisoners. They are, in part, victims of the denial of democracy. We need a Special Judicial Commission to ascertain the context and causes of the 1987 election rigging in J&K that became an inflection point leading to violence,” the manifesto said.
The party also resolved the end of attachment of properties, demolition drives and termination of government jobs of employees besides mentioning rehabilitation for conflict victims, scrapping of draconian laws and release of prisoners and protection of human rights.
GFX
Key highlights
*Restoration of Article 370 and statehood
*Judicial probe into alleged rigging of 1987 assembly polls
*Release of prisoners and protection of human rights
*Ending attachment of properties, demolition drives
*Ensuring rehabilitation for conflict victims
*Scrapping of ‘draconian’ laws
