Apni Party holds yet another massive public rally; this time in Srinagar
A procession of the highly charged crowd escorted their leader up to the rostrum in an open jeep, a gesture observed after a long gap in Srinagar
Srinagar July 24 (KNS): Denouncing political deceptions by the traditional political parties in J&K, Apni Party (AP) President Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Sunday said that the time has come when people have to decide whether they want to continue falling prey to deceptive politics or they would choose to support the realistic politics for a better future.
Bukhari was addressing a massive public rally at Nowgam in Srinagar, where the locals and the party workers gave a grand reception to the AP leader on his arrival at the venue.
A procession of the highly charged crowd, while raising slogans in his favor, took their leader up to the rostrum in an open jeep, which has been an unusual practice in Srinagar in recent history.
According to a statement issued here, Bukhari while addressing the rally advised people to learn from their past experiences and refuse to fall prey to the political gimmicks of the traditional parties yet again.
He said, “You have been always hoodwinked by the traditional political parties in the name of alluring slogans such as plebiscite, autonomy, self-rule, Azadi, and so on. They misled you for their political gains all these years.”
“Enough is enough. Now, you must be able to say no to the further political exploitations any, and refuse to fall into the trap of emotional sloganeering and deceptive promises by these parties and their leaders.”
Referring to the forthcoming assembly elections, the Apni Party President said, “J&K people are about to enter a crucial phase where people’s vote will decide their future. It is up to you, whether you choose those who have been deceiving you all these years and decades, or you will vote for a better alternative. You must understand that the forthcoming elections are basically a fight between the truth and falsehood.”
Bukhari explained, “Those who are promising you the moon and stars are misleading you. People have already suffered hugely due to their deceptive politics. Please, do not trust them again. Earlier, you had no options, but, now you have the Apni Party as an alternative. This party is with the exception that it does not lie to its people. We make only attainable promises to you. We do not believe in unachievable goals and emotional slogans, which have ruined the lives of the people so far. Thousands of our youth have landed either in jails or graveyards only because of the emotional politics and misleading slogans by these traditional political parties.”
He further said, “Had these traditional political parties given a chance to a fair democratic system to grow Yasin Malk would have not been in jail at this time, neither would Syed Salahuddin have been isolated from his motherland. These people had expressed their faith in the democratic system here but the traditional political parties disheartened them by historically infamous rigging in the 1987 polls. That is why I say that these traditional parties and the so-called leaders are responsible for the suffering and deaths that the people of this land were subjected to during past more than three decades.”
Describing the agenda and vision of the Apni Party, Syed Altaf Bukhari said, “We have an unambiguous agenda and policy. We want to work for sustained peace, durable prosperity and the development of Jammu and Kashmir; and the political and economic empowerment of its people. These are achievable goals and we have a clear vision about how to implement our agenda on the ground provided people give us a mandate in the forthcoming assembly elections.”
He further said, “I assure you that we will work to ensure the protection of the political rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Apni Party, if elected to serve would ensure peace and prosperity here; and we will make sure that the benefits of peace and prosperity reach each and every citizen irrespective of his or her religious identity and political ideology, or geographical location in J&K.”
Explaining his vision further, Bukhari said, “We live in an era where economic empowerment is most important for the people. Economic freedom and prosperity must be the first priority for us as well. Almighty has given Jammu and Kashmir huge potential for economic growth and wellbeing. Apni party, it comes to power, would leave no stone unturned to ensure all that potential is utilized to its fullest to benefit the people of this land. We have huge natural resources which mostly are yet to be explored. For instance, we will use J&K’s hydroelectric generation capability to its fullest. We will enhance the potential of horticulture and agriculture here. We will pave a way for the huge investments into the J&K. All this will eventually enable us to create modern infrastructure and plenty of job opportunities here. This is how we want to ensure economic empowerment of our people.” He swiftly added, “At the same time we will strive for the protection of identity and political rights of the people.”
Bukhari reiterated his promises, “As I have said it earlier that Apni Party’s government will give free electricity up to 500 units each household in the Valley during winters and in Jammu during summers, and up to 300 units of the free electricity would be given consumers in the Valley during summer and the same amount of the electricity to the people in Jammu in winters. Also, we intend to enhance the old age pension from the existing one thousand rupees up to five thousand rupees a month, and marriage assistance for the girls from fifty thousand up to One lakh rupees to each beneficiary. Similarly, we will give four free gas refills annually to every household in J&K.”
“All these initiatives would be taken to lend a helping hand to the J&K people who mostly have been grappling with things like poverty, unemployment, and inflation for quite a long time.”
Bukhari expressed his gratitude to the people for a rousing reception. He said, “I thank you for love and affection. In recent times, we hold several rallies in various Srinagar constituencies such as Eidgah, Zadibal, Hazratbal, and now in Nowgam, and received warm greetings from the people. Such gestures from our people in Srinagar indicate their approval to the policies and agenda of the Apni Party.
Besides Syed Altaf Bukhari, the prominent party leaders and senior workers who were present on the occasion include Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir, Party’s Parliamentary Committee Chairman Dilawar Mir, Party General Secretary Rafi Ahmad Mir, Vice President Javid Mustafa Mir, Party's Provincial President for Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Party’s Youth Wing President and Mayor Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Junaid Azim Mattu, Senior leader and DDC Chairman Srinagar Malik Aftab, Vice-chairperson of DDC Srinagar Bilal Ahmad Bhat, District President Srinagar Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Provincial President Youth Wing Khalid Rathore, Provincial President of the Party's women's wing Dilshad Shaheen. Rafeeqa Ji, and Afrooza Ji from the party's woman's wing, Vice President District Srinagar Aijaz Rather, District Vice President Srinagar Mohammad Shafi Mir, Party in charge for Channapora constituency, and corporator SMC Mohammad Mohammad Ashraf Dar, Party Vice Zonal President for Channapora Constituency and Corporator SMC Mohammad Saleem Bhat, Corporate Aijaz Bhat, Party zonal president for Habba Kadal constituency Jeelani Kumar, District Coordinator Srinagar Tanbir Singh Sodhi, District President Youth Srinagar and Party’s Zonal President Khanyar Constituency Mohsin Zafar Shah, Party leader & Ward President Rawalpora Nazir Ahmad Dar, Ward President Hyderpora Mohammad Maqbool, Ward President Mehjoor Nagar Abdul Rashid Parray, Ghulam Ahmad Daga, Ward President Natipora Mohammad Shafi (Zamzam), Ward President Badshah Nagar Mohammad Jamal, and others.(KNS)