KL Report
Srinagar
Asserting that her party treats power only as a necessity to implement its long term vision Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday said that her party values public endorsement of its agenda and its performance in govt and opposition as its real achievement.
According to GNS, PDP president while addressing party worker’s conventions at Pampore and Rajpora said the party’s struggle for improvement in the life of the residents of the state would continue and it hopes that 2014 would provide it with an opportunity to pick up threads again from where it had left during the previous coalition.
Mehbooba said though the three years of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s rule has become a reference point for good governance and relief provided to the people, the party would strive for higher objectives if given a chance with a stronger mandate. “The people of the state have time and again given overwhelming support and huge majority to the NC which only let them down with disastrous fall out. But the performance of the PDP has provided an opportunity to the people to realise how even a brief tenure by another party and its leadership could actually transform the entire environment from despair to hope and bring positive change in everybody’s life,” she said and expressed hope that people will vote on the basis of performance and not on emotional slogans.
She said it is unfortunate that NC leadership after having failed in fulfilling all their promises of good governance and development have reverted to their old tactics of raising hollow slogans which have lost meaning in the changed context. “Though it is obvious that this slogan mongering would not make any impact on the mood of the voters which obviously favours a change, it definitely widens the gulf between the citizens of the state and rest of the country.”
“This has been practiced in the past by the NC with terrible effect on many generations of Kashmiris and it is sought to be repeated by its present leadership which has sensed defeat and is trying to cling to the proverbial straw like a drowning man,” she added.
Mufti said that PDP has a pragmatic and positive agenda for resolution of the external and internal dimensions of Kashmir issue, some features of which in fact are already under implementation. “We stand for opening of all the traditional routes to end the siege of the state and have an outstanding performance to our credit on this important front. We never asked for votes on the promise of opening the Rawalpindi road but actually facilitated it before the world even knew about it.”
Mehbooba said that PDP could achieve it because it worked with conviction and sincerity as a matter of its political belief and not as emotional exploitation of the people. “For NC, the Kashmir issue is a horse that it whips at the time of elections to garner votes,” she said, adding that PDP will never indulge in such deception and cheating of people’s faith and electoral mandate.
Mehbooba said the ‘life saving’ slogans of NC have always resulted in creating a trust deficit between the state and rest of the country. This has resulted in a situation in which everyone looks at us with suspicion,” she said adding for chair’s sake NC won’t even hesitate in striking relationships of any kind.
Mehooba said instead of preaching tolerance and resolution to others the present coalition would be well advised to set examples of its own. “It is ironical that the nearest place where Geelani Sahib can offer prayers is New Delhi but the local government talks of resolving Kashmir issue. Hundreds of youth are killed in shooting on the streets without even a single case being investigated much less punished but fiery speeches are made on the issue of AFSPA. Why can’t this government set an example by setting its own house in order? But everybody knows that the government that could not withdraw fake cases against thousands of youth can do little on more serious issues,” said Mehbooba while pointing out that speeches do not make up for action and performance.
Mehbooba said for their own comforts and pleasures the rulers have no problem of money, but when it comes to disbursement of wages and other perks to its employees, government does not have money. “And when employees come on roads with their genuine and long pending demands they are dealt with brute force,” she said adding, it was ironical that casual labourers are being disengaged from their services and hundreds of bureaucrats are re-employed and paid in lakhs. “The injustices heaped on the youth are again alienating them and pushing them to wall.”
Appealing the youth to fight for their rights only through peaceful and democratic means, Mehbooba said democracy alone could fix their problems and they needed to fully participate in choosing the representatives who had good track record, a positive agenda and a sincere approach.
