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Prominent health expert joins Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference
The Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference said that many local leader from other parties have also joined the party on the occasion
Former Jammu & Kashmir deputy director, health, Dr Bashir Chalkoo from Uri joined the People’s Conference (PC) on Tuesday giving a shot in the arm to the Sajad Gani Lone-led party.
Chalkoo was welcomed into the party fold by PC president Sajad Gani Lone at his residence at Churchlane in Srinagar along with many workers from the northern frontier Tehsil of Uri today, the party said.
Lone said that the PC will hugely benefit from Chalkoo’s experience in public life whose entry into the party fold indicates the “positive impact” the party has made among the people of J&K.
“I wholeheartedly welcome Bashir sahib into the caravan of change. He has served in J&K’s health department at key positions and will hugely help the party especially in wake of insurmountable and tremendous challenges faced by the people of J&K,” he said.
Sajad Lone, a former separatist, switched sides in 2009 and joined pro-India politics by fighting parliamentary elections, a first separatist to do so in Kashmir after militancy erupted in the valley in 1989. Since then his party has slowly but surely grown, particularly in north Kashmir.
Criticising previous governments for “failing” to realise the promises made to the people of Uri in north Kashmir, Lone claimed that Uri has been totally ignored on the developmental front by the previous regimes.
“The People’s Conference will usher in a new era of economic and infrastructure development for this region and the concerns of people of Uri will be addressed on priority if the party comes to power. We will make all efforts to develop Uri to tap the tourist potential of this virgin valley and make Uri into a hub of tourism,” he added.
Chalkoo, who hails from Uri and has served in J&K’s health department for over three decades, expressed pleasure on joining the PC.
He claimed that the “sincerity of thought of the PC president and the history of service and sacrifice of the party obliged him to join the People’s Conference”.
“I want to participate and, to the extent that I can, contribute to this overall change by working within the aegis of the People’s Conference,” he said.
The party said that many others have also joined the party on the occasion including former National Conference (NC) block secretary, Mohd Iqbal Sarhadi, dlock president of Awami Itihad Party (AIP), Qudous Mangnal, Youth Congress block president, Danish Mangnal, NC district youth secretary, Adv Shamim, Tahir Iqbal, district president, AIP, Tanveer Chalkoo, District youth coordinator, NC, Mudasir Parray, Women’s wing head, Gulshan Abbasi and other prominent NC and Congress workers.
