Centre resorting to brazen duplicity: PDP

SRINAGAR: Meeting for the first time after the scrapping of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said that the Centre is resorting to “brazen duplicity” in dealing with issues in J&K and elsewhere. PDP functionaries met at their party headquarters here after the authorities gave them the go-ahead.
“On one hand, BJP is participating in dialogue with Taliban, talking reconciliation with PLA (People’s Liberation Army of China), who have invaded Ladakh, and discussing with Nagaland insurgents separate Constitution and Flag, and on the other the Centre is using anything but dialogue to deal with the mess created by them after illegal scrapping of special status of J&K. This is unacceptable,” the party said in a statement after the meeting.
PDP reaffirmed its pledge to continue fighting for the aspirations and rights of the people of J&K and resist by all democratic ways the onslaught by the central government, the statement said.
“We reject the undemocratic treatment imposed by the ruling regime, which has hundreds of our youngsters unjustifiably held in jails, despite huge risks to their lives from the Covid-19 pandemic. Our voices have been ignored, institutions erased. We cannot afford to remain silent any longer. We need to speak now to restore our dignity and take charge of our own destinies,” said PDP youth wing president Waheed ur Rehman Parra, who attended the meeting.
“We demand an immediate end to the ruling regime’s denial of (J&K being a) political problem. Our people have endured a brutal clampdown and the world’s longest internet shutdown,” Waheed added.
“J&K has seen many lockdowns and crises. And each time we have shown that we can survive and stand with one another. We have demonstrated to the world a unique capacity to mobilize support, care and humanitarian aid among our own communities. In the most difficult times, we have shown compassion for those who are less fortunate and generosity towards outsiders. This is the secret code to our survival as one people. No power in the world can take that away from us,” the statement said.
The meeting was also attended by senior PDP functionaries AR Beeri, Khurshid Alam, Suhail Bukhari, Ejaz Ahmed Mir and Abdul Hamid Kosheen among others.