In a statement issued Saturday, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) expressed its anguish at the ‘fast deteriorating situation’ in Jammu and Kashmir, claiming that “the Centre choked even the breathing space of the people of J&K, leaving them suffering on every front.”
In addition, the PAGD expressed concern that facts regarding Jammu and Kashmir’s 1947 integration with India are being misrepresented.
As a result of a meeting of the PAGD in Srinagar at the residence of Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said the alliance leaders discussed the current political situation in J&K and expressed serious concern over the “fast deterioration of both Kashmir and Jammu”.”
“After taking away the constitutional right of Article 370, other ways of survival are gradually being choked down. “Innocent people are being incarcerated in police stations and jails while civil liberties, freedom of the press and freedom of speech are under assault,” Tarigami said, flanked by PAGD chief Dr Farooq Abdullah, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, ANC vice president Muzaffar Shah, and others.
According to Tarigaami, it is high time for the people of J&K as well as their political parties to stand up against the “present onslaught of New Delhi” against them. He added that parents wait outside every police station for their children to be released.
“Jails outside Kashmir now have no capacity, given the number of Kashmiris lodged there,” Tarigami claimed.
Union Ministers’ frequent visits to Kashmir are a “move to further suppress the people of Kashmir.” “These ministers are coming to ensure further suppression is tightened and whoever raises his voice is behind bars,” he said.
Aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for stating that power and democracy had been brought to grassroots level in J&K, Tarigami said decentralization had been prioritized in the Naya Kashmir document.
When J&K is being converted into the Gujarat model, why are liquor, beer, and drugs being sold freely?
About giving voting rights to any one by authorizing the Tehsildar, Tarigami said that giving voting rights is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India. “How come the government was issuing orders,” he asked.
“As soon as the order is signed, the media is told it has been withdrawn. Isn’t this a mockery of democracy?” he asked.