SRINAGAR: With the first phase of the Lok Sabha Elections over, regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir have begun unveiling their poll manifestos. While PDP made its manifesto public a day earlier, JKNC is yet to declare its own. The same applies to three other parties, including Apni Party, Peoples Conference, and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
PDP’s poll manifesto has omitted any reference to self-rule, although it has termed the abrogation of Article 370 as illegal. “Since August 2019, JK has been converted into an open-air prison after the illegal abrogation of Article 370. There has been an unending onslaught on our collective identity, land, jobs, resources, and the very freedom to speak,” the message in the manifesto reads.
Talking to Kashmir Life, PDP Spokesperson Mohit Bhan said that Self Rule remains the core agenda at the heart of JK PDP, and in the present scenario, it is more relevant than ever.
“We have not given it a miss, but at present, for Lok Sabha Polls, we want to highlight the misconceptions created in last five years about the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Rest assured, Self Rule will always remain an important part of our core agenda vis a vis the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” Bhan said.
In its manifesto, the party focuses on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019. The document highlights issues such as the return of power projects to JK, road connectivity, access to clean drinking water, women and youth empowerment, and the upgrade of infrastructure in government schools, among other concerns.
Stating that “there has been an unending onslaught on our collective identity, land, jobs, resources, and infringement upon the very freedom to speak,” the manifesto emphasizes “the dire need” to raise a voice against this in Parliament. “Right from the drastic changes to state subject and land laws to the outsourcing of our resources by gifting contracts to outsiders. Even developmental projects are being handed over to non-locals,” it says.
The manifesto also discusses the youth “languishing in prisons outside the state” and states that “after the unilateral and illegal revocation of JK’s special status, its youth have been the first and worst sufferers of a slew of GOI’s unilateral and draconian policies and decisions”.
