People's Alliance Adopts Erstwhile J&K State Flag As Gupkar Alliance Symbol

People’s Alliance of Jammu and Kashmir today said they would adopt a flag of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state as a symbol of the alliance.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the alliance partners, comprising the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Conference, CPI(M), and others. The meeting took place at the residence of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and it was attended by Dr Farooq Abdullah, Sajad Gani Lone, Mohd Yousuf Taragami, and others.

“We have decided that Dr Farooq Abdullah would be the chairman of the Peoples’ Alliance, Mehbooba Mufti, vice-president, and Mohd Yousuf Taragami will be convenor,” the People’s Alliance spokesman Sajad Gani Lone said after the meeting.

He said in one month, a document would be brought to the fore to reflect the exact situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “The document would be a tribute to the people of J&K who are being slandered as they are being portrayed as corrupt,” Lone said. He said it is being projected that there was rampant corruption in J&K and the state was in the dark ages before the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.  He said the people of J&K and India deserve to know the reality and the document would reveal everything with facts and figures.

He said within two weeks another meeting of the People’s Alliance would be held in Jammu.
On Friday, in an act of defiance against the revocation of Article 370, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said she would not be raising the Tricolour till Jammu and Kashmir’s flag and constitution is restored.

She said she would not be contesting any election without J&K state’s flag and constitution. She said we are not “comfortable and compatible with today’s India”. She also said, “If some people think people in Kashmir will forget the Kashmir issue and Article 370 after some time, they are living in a dream world.”

Under Article 144 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, which ceased with the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the flag of J&K state was to be rectangular 3:2 format. Its colour is red, which originally represented the blood of the martyrs of the July 13,1931 demonstration. It was adopted in 1952.