Altaf Bukhari was speaking at a public meeting organized by Party’s Assembly Candidate for Kathua Assembly Constituency, Kushboo Bhagat at Nagri area of the District. The public meeting was attended by all the senior leaders of the Party.

 

Addressing the public meeting, Bukhari said that “It is due to the policies of the Apni Party that the people have accepted the Party in Jammu hardcore despite presence and strong roots of traditional political parties. It is happening because the Apni Party believes in unity and speaks about the issues being confronted by the common masses. Such issues are hardly addressed by the traditional political parties. These political parties always tried to gain public support with their policy of dividing public opinion with their divisive ideology.”

 

He however said that “The Apni Party speaks about unity, employment, reservation for local unemployed youth in industrial sector, ending monopoly of outsiders on J&K’s resources, ending drug addiction/smuggling and equablitable development of all the regions without discrmination.”

 

“Apni Party represents all sections of society equally, particularly the marginalized section of society who remained neglected with regard to development in the last seventy years. It is this policy which has attracted the people towards Apni Party and this stand is unlike traditional political parties,” he said.

 

He said that “After the revocation of Article 370 from J&K, everyone in J&K including Jammu’s every person was saddened because lakhs of people who were associated with the extraction of minerals were left workless as their trade was gradually grabbed by the outsiders. Their right to earning was taken over by the non-locals and it created a sense of insecurity and great distress.”

 

“If we come to power in J&K, we will ensure that the resources will be handed over to the locals and no outsider will be allowed to intervene or exploit the resources which belong to the local population of their respective districts,” he said.

 

Strongly condemning BJP for demanding a local Chief Minister from Jammu, he said that “Who else can be more associated with Jammu then myself who has invested here from last 31 years in the industrial sector. Am I not from Jammu? The divisive agenda is again being adopted to mislead the innocent people of Jammu with false slogans which would further alienate them.”

 

“It is unfortunate that the Govt has compromised the constitutional protection to the people of Jammu and Kashmir by allowing non-state subjects to become domiciles of J&K within 15 years. Does it make me an outsider after investing in Jammu for the last three decades and an outsider as a resident of Jammu? This division is dangerous for society and it should be avoided. These statements are given to divert attention of the people so that they do not ask for development or question Govt for growing unemployment,” he said.

 

He said that the present Govt had promised to bring prosperity in J&K but has miserably failed to fulfil its promises and instead encourages outsiders to loot the natural resources of J&K.

 

“The elections were not held and the Statehood is being delayed for one reason or the other. Now the demand for Jammu Chief Minister is an attempt to divide the two Regions. However, the Apni Party will not allow this to happen,” he said.

 

Referring to the issue of JKP’s Border Battalion, he said that the youth who were assured employment in the border battalion are still holding protest demonstrations in support of their demands but the Govt seems unmoved with regard to the genuine demands of the aspiring youth.

 

“It is an appeal to the Govt to accept the demands of the Border Battalion aspirants,” he said and added that special recruitment drives for the border resident youths should be conducted to meet the challenge of growing unemployment.

 

He said that the traditional political parties have preferred silence on the issue of investment and unemployment. However, the Apni Party will not compromise on the issues of the common masses as they have suffered very badly for the last over three years.

 

“Apni Party believes in social engineering by providing equal rights to everyone with regard to development and employment. On the other, the traditional political parties have only provided lipservice. In Kathua district, one can find such areas which still lack proper road connectivity, health services, and mobile phone connectivity,” he said and questioned the claims of the administration with regard to the development.

 

He said that the development has not reached every nook and corner even after the tall claims made by the authorities. “We believe in political and economical empowerment of the people without discrmination,” he said and referred to the foundation day of Apni Party i.e., March 8, 2022 which also falls on Women Day.

 

“There should be reservation for women in Parliament and J&K’s Legislative Assembly. It is under this ideology and policy of the Party, we have given Party’s mandate to Ms Khushboo Bhagat, Party candidate for assembly constituency Kathua. She belongs to a marganlized Dalit family and hence, it is our motive to empower the neglected section of society by providing them ample opportunities for social, political and economical upliftment,” he said.

 

He appealed to the people of Kathua to come forward and support Ms Bhagat.

 

For the Apni Party, he said, “There is no difference between Jammu and Kashmir Regions. Both the Regions have equal rights for development and employment in our Party's agenda. We do not believe in communal, social or regional division. But our strong belief is in uplifting the living standard of the people and addressing economic and political issues of the common masses.

 

He also expressed his serious concern over encouraging liquor trade in J&K and questioned the authorities for ignoring the local traders involved in liquor trade.

 

“Jammu’s business faced equal difficulties and discrmination like the traders and businessmen of Kashmir. The people feel cheated after the scrapping of special status of J&K and downgrading the State into a Union Territory,” he said.

 

He said that “There is strong resentment against the BJP in Jammu plains which remained its strong hold for long. It was because of their double standard and failure in representing the public’s aspiration in the right manner.”

 

“The people are left without representation to face difficulties and hence, it has given rise to feelings of alienation in absence of an elected Govt,” he said.

 

He hailed the Party leaders and workers of Kathua District particularly Kashboo Bhagat for their hard work.

 

“We are committed to work to protect the rights and interests of the local people. We will not allow outsiders to take over the jobs and resources which actually belong to locals,” he added.

 

Prominent among those who were present on the occasion included Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir, State General Secretary Vikram Malhotra, Provincial President, Jammu, Manjit Singh, President District Kathua, Ex-MLA Prem Lal, Provincial Vice President Ex-MLA Faqir Nath, Provincial Secretary Dr Rohit Gupta, District President Kandi Belt (Bani-Basohli) Yasir Choudhary, State President Apni Trade Union, Ajaz Kazmi,  Provincial Joint Secretary Kulwant Singh, State Vice President Youth Wing, Raqeeq Ahmed Khan, State Coordinator OBC Madan Lal Chalotra, State Coordinator SC Wing Bodh Raj Bhagat, State President ST Wing Saleem Choudhary, Provincial President ST Wing Shabir Kohli, Provincial President Youth Wing Vipul Bali, Dalbir Singh, senior leader Arun Chibber, Raj Sachin, Kannav Khajuria, Devinder Singh, KR Raina, Sangeeta, Jitdender, Iqbal Krishan Maski, Arun Singh, Parshotam Dass, Mukhtar (Sarpanch), Vishal, Sameer, Roniv, Vishv, Bindu, Kuldeep, Devinder Chalotra, Mohinder Singh and others.(KNS)