J&K: Gupkar Declaration press conference held in Srinagar

A meeting of the recently formed People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration was held at the residence of PDP President Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar today. All the signatories of the declaration participated in the meeting. Talking to the media, Member Parliament and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, who was unanimously appointed as President of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, said that the Gupkar Declaration is not anti-national but anti-BJP.

Srinagar:The first meeting of the signatories of the Gupkar Declaration was held today after the formation of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration. The meeting was held at the residence of PDP President Mehbooba Mufti. All members of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration participated in the meeting.

The meeting discussed the future course of action for the Alliance. Apart from the formation of an executive council for the Alliance, the BDC elections were also be discussed in the meeting.

Member Parliament and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah has been unanimously appointed as President of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration while People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has been given the chair of vice-president. The alliance also adopted the flag of the erstwhile state of J&K as its symbol and appointed J&K People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone as its spokesperson. CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has been appointed as the convenor of the alliance.

Following the announcement today in Srinagar, Abdullah said, "Those who have been spreading propaganda that Gupkar alliance is anti-national are wrong. We are anti-BJP and that does not mean being anti-national. They have harmed this country and its constitution. We want the rights of the people of J&K to be returned. That is all. Their attempts to divide us on religion will fail."

"When we talk of a revival of 370, we also talk of regional autonomy of area in Jammu and Ladakh," Farooq Abdullah, who was released in March, this year.

Sajjad Lone, the newly-appointed spokesperson of the Gupkar Declaration Alliance, said, "We have decided on a structure of the alliance today. Farooq Abdullah will be our president and Mehbooba Mufti as the vice president and I will be the spokesperson of the alliance."

"We will soon come up with a white paper on reality. We will give a research document on what we had and what they have taken away. In two weeks, we will have our next meeting in Jammu and then we will have a convention. Our erstwhile flag of the state will be the symbol of our alliance," Sajjad Lone added.

Signatories to the Gupkar Declaration held their first meeting on October 15 of this year following the release of former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti from detention. This meeting was held at Farooq Abdullah's residence in Srinagar. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone among others were part of this meeting.

Recently released Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti also held her first party meeting in Srinagar on Thursday. Mufti was detained for a period of 14-month post the abrogation of Article 370 last year and was released recently.

With inputs from agencies