Srinagar, 15-10-2020: All-party meeting on Gupkar Declaration concluded at Dr Farooq Abdullah’s residence late this evening wherein all the signatories barring Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President Ghulam Ahmad Mir participated.
Days after former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was released from 14 month-long detention, members of various political parties, including Mufti, met at the residence of senior National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah, carrying forward the resolution under the Gupkar declaration to get back the J&K’s special status. The declaration was signed a day before Article 370 was revoked on August 5 last year.
After the meeting concluded on Thursday, the coming together of parties to oppose last year’s move by the Centre was named as People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration.
“Our battle is a constitutional battle, we want the government of India to return to the people of the State the rights they held before August 5, 2019,” NC president Abdullah and three-time
Chief Minister, who chaired the meeting, said.
The meeting was attended by signatories of the Gupkar Declaration, including several regional mainstream political leaders like People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, ANC vice-president Muzaffar Ahmad Shah and JKPM leader Javaid Mustafa Mir.
Congress chief GA Mir was also a signatory to the declaration. He, however, could not attend the meeting citing COVID-19 reasons.
The meeting was called by Farooq and his son Omar Abdullah after Mehbooba’s release, an invitation PDP leader accepted.
Thursday’s meeting is considered as a major political development in the region since August last year as all mainstream politicians were detained as a measure to prevent any opposition to the Central government’s unilateral decision to abrogate Article 370.
In a phased manner many leaders were gradually released after months of detention but the political activity in the region was brought to a grinding halt owing to the large-scale detentions.
“It is an important development. The ideological consensus was already there. Today it was given a formal shape. We hope it helps to translate our resolve of the collective fight for our right,” PDP spokesperson Suhail Bukhari told.
Farooq further informed media that the next meeting of the signatories will be held in the coming days and the decision taken for the future course of action will be made public on the particular day.