5 August 2019: Violation of sovereign promises made by India to Kashmiris: Farooq Abdullah

 In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the pro-India National Conference (NC) president Dr Farooq Abdullah has reiterated that the party’s position on the unilateral, unconstitutional and undemocratic decisions taken on 5, August 2019 would never change. He said that the party would continue its struggle for the restoration of J&K people’s rights.

Dr Farooq said this, while addressing a meeting of party functionaries, here at party headquarters Nawa-e-Subha Srinagar. He termed the August 5 decisions as a lethal assault on India’s secular visage, its pluralistic and asymmetrical federalism and violation of sovereign promises made by the country to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

He said the abrogation of Articles 370, 35-A, downgrading of J&K into two UTs were few decisions for which the people of J&K would never forgive Narendra Modi’s government.

Among others party general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, additional general secretary Dr Mustafa Kamal, provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, senior leader Mubarak Gul, state women wing president Shameema Firdous, central zone president Ali Muhammad Dar and provincial secretary Showkat Ahmed Mir also addressed the functionaries.

Among others Peer Afaq Ahmed, Qaisar Jamsheed Lone, Syed Tauqeer Ahmed, Dr Sajad Shafi Uri, Tanvir Sadiq, Imran Nabi Dar, Salman Ali Sagar, Sabiya Qadri, Mudassar Shahmiri, Ifra Jan, Younis Mubarak Gul, J S Azad, GN Tailbali, scores of parent body, YNC functionaries were also present on the occasion.

Those who spoke on the occasion termed the August 5, 2019 decisions of the incumbent ruling dispensation in New Delhi as a catastrophic event in the recent history of Jammu and Kashmir that sounded a death knell for the vital democratic, political, constitutional, cultural, economic interests of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

“In the run up for abrogation on the fateful day of August 5, 2019, it was said that the rationale behind the decisions was to facilitate the integration and bring about better administration. Two years have passed since, not a single promise has materialized on ground. The decisions have only managed to suspend democracy in the state and put all the crucial institutions on death bed. As against facilitating the integration and bringing the region at par with other states, as was promised, the Government of India has inversely been thrusting custom made top bottom decisions on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Post unilateral abrogation of its status, the region has been put on much lower pedestal than other constituent units of the union,” the functionaries said.

The functionaries said that the decisions had come with a steep cost to people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh in the shape of a collapsed economy, growing administrative inertia and development deficit as well.

“A choked atmosphere has been created in J&K. The idea of peace still remains elusive. BJP’s drum beating has not helped it gloss over the fall out of its imprudent decisions. Huge barriers have been placed aimed at denying political space to voices of dissent, be it political or from the media fraternity. The employees and youth have been pushed to the wall by New Delhi without any hesitation. The successive executive orders post abrogation in the shape of issuance of domicile certificates, curbs on media, intimidation of government employees, discriminatory rules on employment are some of the top down authoritarian diktats that have been pushed down the throats of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” they said.