Srinagar, Dec 24: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of seven political parties, on Thursday asked administration to reciprocate the verdict of people in DDC elections and not “facilitate moves by some people to attract independents.”
“We met and expressed gratitude to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. To those people who voted and even to those who did not vote for us. Gratitude to them who came out in very large numbers and reposed faith in democracy and strengthened democracy in J&K,” Sajjad Gani Lone, spokesman of the amalgam formed this year to fight for restoration of Article 370 which was effectively nullified last year. “Now that the people of J&K after so many upheavals have reposed their faith in democracy of this country, it’s incumbent upon and the onus lies on the administration to reciprocate that respect and faith in democracy. I would say that there are some disturbing reports coming about interference in democracy, in people’s verdict wherein the government of the day is acting in a partisan manner and in-fact becoming participant by directly, indirectly facilitating moves by some people to attract independents towards them by confining them,” Sajjad said without naming BJP.
“I think they should desist from this and not humiliate this great verdict of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Sajjad, who was flanked by other PAGD leaders including the amalgam’s president farooq Abdullah.
History, he said, is replete with examples that those who tried to humiliate verdict from people “end up with the disasters.”
“We need to respect this verdict and show respect to the people. Under no circumstance should democracy be tinkered with interference with and that is totally unacceptable.”
PAGD emerged victorious on most seats in the just concluded DDC elections while BJP won on 75 seats, mostly in Jammu division even as some of party’s senior leaders and formers ministers in erstwhile state government lost.
“The other new trend is preventive detention. What is the logic? This has been the most peaceful elections in the last three decades. The most non-violent and peaceful election and it should end up with something good,” Sajjad said. “That it ends up with preventive detentions is something which is totally antithetical to the way to the way elections have been held in terms of peace, in terms of lack of violence while as traditionally in last three decades we have seen so much of violence.”
He said that one fails to understand that when “you have elections conducted so peacefully why would you need to detain people as they have in the past.”
“We condemn all these detentions with all the power we have. And we just hope that after such a great performance of democracy we are not faced with these arbitrary detention,” he said, adding, “They should be released immediately. We are here with the mandate of people, a majority mandate. A decisive mandate and we say that they should be released.”
