Srinagar: Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday said that an atmosphere of fear and pressure had been created in Kashmir forcing everyone to remain silent and the erstwhile state had fallen victim to "weak federalism".
Sajad, in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, said that elections for mainstream political parties were "as important as air for human survival and water for fish".
"Everyday the administration in Kashmir decides that it will show its power in Kashmir. The situation is different across the tunnel," he added.
Sajad said his party was "ready" for the elections given that Centre "could announce polls anytime".
He described the current political situation in Jammu and Kashmir as "unfortunate" and said that the so-called crown state of the country was "fighting for its identity today".
"In such a scenario, the mainstream parties here are helpless," he said.
Replying to a question, Sajad Ghani said that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Kashmir Valley, is such that everyone, be it civil or police officers, has lagged behind in their promotions by playing a cruel role. The man cannot speak even for the unavailability of his basic necessities because he does not know when he will be arrested under UAPA.
Talking about the recent arrest of a mother and daughter duo, he said that in a democracy everyone has the right to speak but here that right has also been taken away. He said that what kind of justice is this. At present, every officer in Kashmir is in a race to improve his APR by inflicting oppression on Kashmiris in the cycle of promotions. He asked the administration to state that you are a Muslim and a Kashmiri so you are being persecuted.
Responding to a question on delimitation, he said that delimitation of new constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir should be done in accordance with the 2011 census. And what has been done for the benefit of a particular political party should not be done. He said that in the past delimitation done by National conference and Congress for their own benefit.
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Commenting on the statement of Dr. Farooq Abdullah, President National Conference on Farmers' Movement for Restoration of abrogation of 370, Sajad Lone said that being a major political party, National Conference failed to launch any movement when it was needed and what movement they are talking about now.
"We are ready to knock every door to restore the special status of Jammu and Kashmir but we will not lie to the people," he said. "I respect Dr Farooq Abdullah and Umar Abdullah but it is also true that they are lying and indulging in theatrics," he adds.
Sajad Ghani said, "I also think that it is not possible to restore Article 370 during the BJP regime in the Centre. Being mainstream political parties, people have to speak the truth, leaving politics, personal interests and emotional issues, aside."
Lone noted that the people in the state have been sacrificing their lives and livelihoods since approximately 30 years, and reiterated the need for Kashmiri people to move forward rather than be stuck in cycle of endless sacrifices.
"My children have turned into adults, yet I do not ask sacrifices from them. And if that is the case, why shall I seek sacrifices from others' children?
No sacrifices, I want Kashmiri youth to progress, get educated, and fight for their rights both constitutionally and legally", he opined.
"Nobody in the country will be bothered if someone starts agitating here in Kashmir based on the farmers' demands. They did not even protest at the time of Article 370 abrogation, why would they do it now? Dr Abdullah is a senior politician, I will not going to accuse him of knowingly spreading negativity. Maybe he is trying to approach it on a positive angle, but I do disagree with him", the Peoples Conference leader said while referring to former J&K CM Omar Abdullah's comment about protests similar to the farmers' agitation in Kashmir.
Upon being asked whether he feels it is likely that Kashmir would be freed from the shackles of Article 370 while under the BJP government in the Centre, Lone said it was not possible, since one of the few elements defining BJP's existence was the abrogation of Article 370, an active act of defying control by the administration would be to not give the government a reason to carry out attacks against Kashmiris.
Referring to the idea of 'political space', Lone admitted that the Peoples Conference partly agreed with BJP's state unit that both National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party said one thing in the state, and quite another when they went to Delhi.
"The traditional parties, I feel, have a kind of pact where they agree upon suffering being inflicted upon Kashmiris, just so that it can be established that they have remained with common people since the beginning, unlike the newer parties", he said.
Being asked whether he felt the mainstream parties had been out trying to measure the wind and if they had an advantage in this regard, Lone said the sources of information had seen a substantial increase in recent years.
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"When my father used to try to get his word out there, his words were filtered in various places. This was largely because people knew we would not be able to form the government, and could not also provide them with ad revenue.
Today, I have ETV Bharat, if not there are many other channels. I have the internet, Facebook, Twitter. This has amounted to a big problem for the traditional media, as they were the ones who owned the media earlier," the Peoples Conference chief said.
Briefly describing a portion of his electoral agendas, he stated that basic dignities of citizens such as healthcare and education would be looked after.
Underscoring economic concerns, Lone said his party considered Jammu as the industrial zone, and Kashmir would be hosting the service centre, including tourism, banking, educational institutions, pharmaceutical production etc.
The veteran leader, answering why he felt people did not trust political parties in Kashmir, said singling out Kashmir or Kashmiris for social issues such as corruption would be unfair, as the problem exists across India, rather everywhere on earth.
"It is there in Kashmir, in the rest of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, even in the US. Do not single out the Kashmiri, do not become an institution to slander the Kashmiri. Similarly, if anyone comes to me with this question, I can blame the media. Let us come together and put an end to this nonsense that Delhi started on 5th August ( 2019). All of us are contributors in this: the person asking, the one answering, even the one watching".
Conclusively, he said Kashmir remained where it stood before, proceeding to note that under the current administration he could not see any particular changes in terms of development in the state.
"It is right where it stood before. Maybe it has gone backwards, but certainly not forward. The availability of electricity has reduced. The only difference is that we had a right to cry earlier, which we have foregone because if you cry today, you are charged with UAPA".
