JK News Today
Srinagar,, February 11: At a time when statehood for J&K has become central theme , Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari who had started this movement with the formation his party in March 2020 , the first political party in the post –Article 370 abrogation in August 2019, has come out with a fresh formula to achieve the goal .
Apni Party has been in the forefront in calling for the statehood for J&K in the most practical manner – Ladakh that was carved out as a separate union territory out of the erstwhile state which existed until August 5, 2019 announcement of its split, could stay as a separate entity, but he insisted and wanted that the degradation of the rest of the state as UT be reversed.
The Apni Party leadership was mocked at when they petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah grant of the statehood to J&K . They were told that the statehood was a given as Home Minister Chief has committed that on the floor of the Parliament , and instead the party was asked to join the struggle for the restoration of Article 370 . At that time , Altaf Bukhari had asked the traditional political leadership of Kashmir- National Conference and PDP – not to sell dreams to the people as Kashmir has already suffered huge losses in all respects in the past 70 plus years .
Kashmir , Altaf Bukhari , maintained , cannot afford another spell of devastation and urged them not to push the youth to graves . “ Our graveyards are already overflowing,” Altaf Bukhari had told the political groups and the vested interests while warning them against embarking on any other misadventure .that could bring catastrophic consequences for Kashmiri.
At that time , too, Altaf Bukhari had told the political class that had ruled J&K for decades that it is better to have a look at the pages of history and then decide. First Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru had promised plebiscite on the floor of the Parliament. This , he said, should make Kashmiri political parties to introspect and move ahead accordingly on the issue of the statehood .
Today, when everyone is talking about the statehood , Altaf Bukhari has yet again advised them to change the strategy. There are three parts to his advice – ( a) maintain a consistent dialogue with Centre on the issue of statehood (b)be very clear that the geography of the UT J&K of the day should get the state as the geography and demography of the former state has been officially split into two separate maps , and now there are international implications in reversing the split order , ( c) create conditions and work for good governance to allay apprehensions of skeptics particularly BJP to have a reasonable case with solid case of guarding the national interest to qualify for the statehood.
He has also reminded that the fact that BJP is ruling in the Centre and it has a wide acceptance across the nation , which has been further reinforced by the results of Delhi elections should be taken into account . The Centre must be approached with solid grounds as rhetoric doesn’t substitute for strategy .
