Srinagar, Oct 24: People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, an amalgam involving all major pro-India political parties for restoration of Article 370, on Saturday announced to adopt erstwhile state’s unique flag as its symbol even as it named National Conference president Farooq Abdullah as its president and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti as vice president.
Announcing the “structure” of the alliance which took shape on October 24, chief of Peoples Conference and former minister in PDP-BJP alliance Sajad Gani Lone said that CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami will be convener and Hasnain Masoodi will be the coordinator. “I will be the spokesman. This structure will be strengthened in future,” he said.
Sajad also announced that the alliance will come out with a “whitepaper or document” within a month on the governance in Jammu and Kashmir over the past one year since the abrogation of Article 370 and “expose the lies and propaganda of the BJP” and how the people of Kashmir are being slandered in entire India.
“A document or a white paper as you may call it will be prepared in one month wherein all misunderstandings and lies which are being spread will be put in public domain and the reality brought before public,” he said.
“We will give a comprehensive research document and released before entire nation. It would be a tribute to entire people of Jammu and Kashmir who are being slandered in entire India. It is being presented as if entire plunder has been carried by them.”
He said that the document will present what the government did in J&K”. “What it did to business, employment, business,” he said, adding, “We will give relative comparison of government and non-governmental sectors besides corruption. People of J&K and India deserve to know what the reality is. We will show them the reality with figures. Inshallah (God willing) it would not be rhetoric.”
In a gesture to convey the political intent, the spokesman of the new alliance announced to adopt the erstwhile state flag as the alliance’s symbol.
“The best Symbol which we thought would be a tribute is the adoption of the flag which used to be hoisted on the secretariat.”
Sajad also announced that within two week, “we will hold another meeting in Jammu and thereafter there would be a convention in Srinagar on November 17.”
The parties who are part of the alliance have pledged to uphold the Gupkar Declaration, passed on 4 August 2019 by them to protect and defend the identity, autonomy and special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The alliance came into being two days after former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was released after 14 months in captivity.
