22-08-2022: The head of the National Conference, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, stated on Monday that the leaders who attended the All Party Meet (APM) at his Gupkar home unanimously decided to oppose the Election Commission’s recent statement about the extension of voting rights to non-J&K citizens. The decision to grant outsiders voting powers, according to Senior Abdullah, is “very inappropriate, and if necessary, we can approach the court to contest the motion.”
Addressing the media men, after APM, Dr. Farooq said that he had convened the meeting to discuss the fall-out of the recent announcement of EC about giving voting rights to non-J&K residents including labourers and security forces personnel. “The parties who participated in the meeting include NC, Congress, PDP, Awami National Conference (ANC), Shiv Sena, CPI(M), JDU, and Akali Dal,” he said as per reports. He said that at present the number of non-J&K residents who have been given voting rights is 25 lakh. “Tomorrow the number may go up to 50 lakh or 1 Crore. J&K’s identity is facing a direct assault as Dogra’s, Kashmiris, Sikhs, and other communities are losing their identity,” said Dar Farooq, who was flanked by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami, ANC leader Muzaffar Shah and newly elected J&K Congress president Vikar Rasool besides others.
The NC chief said that the fall-out of voting rights to non-J&K residents will be that tomorrow “Assembly will be in the hands of outsiders.”
Dr. Farooq said that five days ago, he rang LG Manoj Sinha and requested him to convene an APM like one held on the issue of Amarnath Yatra. “I had requested LG to invite all parties, but there was no outcome,” he said, adding that last time, LG had stated that “he will be inviting J&K leaders frequently, but he failed to keep the word.”
Asked about future strategy, he said that today APM explored all options and if needed, “we can approach the court as well to oppose the EC’s decision of giving voting rights to non-J&K residents.”
“I wonder why J&K was chosen for this. There must be some motive,” he said. He said that in the month of September, he will invite leaders of national parties to Srinagar or Jammu, and brief them about the prevailing situation in J&K and the fresh moves of the Centre to change the identity of people belonging to various communities in J&K. Pertinently, Apni Party and Peoples Conference stayed away from APM.
Dr. Farooq also condemned the recent killings of Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims, policemen, and security forces personnel