Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti has said the value of vote was first underlined in Jammu & Kashmir by the people of Ganderbal constituency in 2002 which had resulted in a revolutionary change all across the state and even beyond.According to a statement issued while addressing number of meetings in a road show in Ganderbal segment of Srinagar parliamentary constituency Mehbooba said she could sense the revival of the same spirit today in the former heartland of the National Conference influence and hoped that Ganderbal would once again lead the state in liberating itself from the antics and exploitation of Dr Farooq Abdullah who prefers to describe Kashmiris as ‘maha chors’ before filing nomination papers. “With what face is Farooq sahib asking for votes after such defamation” said Mehbooba. Senior party leader Qazi Mohammad Afzal, Abdul Wahid Dar, Zone president Ghulam Rasool Shaheen and others were also accompanying the party president.
She said Ganderbal had once, in 2002, established the power of vote in the state which resulted in the first real change in the governance though it lasted for a few years. Mehbooba said the marginalization of the NC between 2002 and 2005 had opened a new window of hope and opportunity not just for J&K but for the entire region as well. “That change established new standards in the state politics and the politicians for the first time felt accountable to the people and MLAs were compelled by the new situation to identify themselves with the people and solve their problems,” she said and added that it is because of the introduction of credible alternative to NC in the shape of the PDP that the people are now able to make a clear choice of their representatives now.
The PDP chief said if the people of Ganderbal had not taken bold and courageous decision in 2002 and voted against Omar Abdullah the state would never had realized that change in government could actually bring change in the lives of people. She said almost overnight the state terror promoted by the NC was demolished by the Mufti government by winding up the Task Force, disciplined security forces, disbanding Ikhwanis, scrapping POTA and restoring the dignity of common man. Political prisoners including top separatist leaders were released and the atmosphere of insecurity and random arrests was replaced with accountability of forces, said Mehbooba.
Mehbooba said though the PDP made a government in coalition with Congress, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed introduced a new idiom in the state politics that could appeal even the NDA government at the Centre resulting in the famous Vajpayee initiatives in the Indo-Pak relations. A new chapter of openness and hope was started which culminated with the restoration of traditional routes and introducing travel and trade across the LoC. Normalcy returned to villages and cities, business revived, tourists returned to the valley besides such facilities like mobile telephony which Farooq Abdullah government had failed to get in spite of being part of the NDA.
She said the process that was stalled by the change in government in 2008 has to be revived to carry forward the resolution efforts between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.“For this it is necessary that Dr Farooq Abdullah is defeated and the NC is once again sent on leave to let the people of J&K focus on fundamental issues,” said Mehbooba. “Together we would script a new destiny for the state which however cannot be done without active participation of Ganderbal,” she added.She said the ruling party knows it well that they don’t have anything substantial to show in the form of performance over the last five years and now they are raking-up misleading slogans, abusing opponents and making false promises to the people to make itself relevant, but that actually is not the case as people have made up their mind to change the political scenario in the state.