Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday held a day long party convention at central Kashmir’s Char-e-Shareif segment in which senior party functionaries and hundreds of supporters took part. Addressing the convention, party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura asked people to overwhelmingly vote for party’s candidate for Srinagar parliament elections Aga Syed Mohsin while terming him a person who can represent peoples aspirations in the parliament with more zeal and zest.Hanjura said that since inception, PDP has been echoing the sentiments of people on every platform and on every pedestal. He said that in the present situation when violence, rampage and dictatorial policies have become a new normal, it is the PDP which is telling truth to power, opposing ban on Jamaat and JKLF while pitching for dialogue with Hurriyat and with Pakistan.
Hanjura reiterated that those at the helm must understand that no battle is w0n by training the guns against the innocent people and instead of turning Kashmir into a theatre of war, the government of India must initiate reconciliation with Pakistan, dialogue with Hurriyat and declare armistice on the borders.He added that the PDP’s core agenda has always been to facilitate a political process and not just to form a government.
The PDP General secretary said that when for the first time PDP came to power in 2002, dialogue with the separatists was initiated and Prime Minister Vajpayee from Srinagar extended his hand of friendship to Pakistan and created history when he said that one can change friends but not neighbours. “There were also two rounds of dialogue between the Centre and the Hurriyat Conference and such confidence-building measures put the violence-infested Kashmir subtly back on the track,” Hanjura said.PDP’s Srinagar district President and MLC Mohammad Khurshid Alam in his address said that those launching assaults on state’s integrity on multiple fronts shouldn’t live with the notion that they can any longer terrify people of Kashmir with such tactics. Alam said that when 2014 polls accorded a fractured mandate to all political groups of the state, PDP made an unpopular decision of forming the government with the BJP with a sole aim to get the state out of the era of uncertainty and chaos. Alam added that BJP ran away from the government last year only because PDP remained consistently firm on its agenda and refused to sign on the dotted line.The PDP leader stated that in spite of medley of internal troubles in the coalition, the PDP compelled the government of India to withdraw thousands of cases against the stone pelting youth, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was made to announce a unilateral ceasefire with Pakistan and offer dialogue with Hurriyat.Other PDP leaders who were present on the occasion include Muntazir Mohi-ud-din, Er Nazir Ahmad Yatoo, Mohammad Yasin Bhat, Adv Mohammad Ashraf and Abdul Salaam Bhat. (PTK)