Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, Sunday, said PDP has been able to inspire confidence, among a majority of the people in all the regions of the state, about its ability to solve the multiple problems faced by Jammu and Kashmir on political, economic, administrative and financial front.According to a statement issued to KNS, while addressing a meeting of the prominent leaders, office bearers, and prominent workers of North Kashmir here today, she said the party, with a decisive mandate, will carry forward its agenda of political resolution, good governance and employment generation and convert Jammu and Kashmir into a real welfare state.
Mehbooba said apart from political, administrative and financial mess that the present coalition government has pushed the state into the new challenges which can be addressed if the PDP, under Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, gets a clear mandate from the people. She said vision, of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed about the resolution of political problems of the state, is already underway after the historic initiatives of 2003.The PDP Chief, who represents South Kashmir in Lok Sabha, said the Prime Minister- Vajpayee’s bold initiatives were possible only when a chief minister of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s political sagacity, maturity and vision was at the helm in the state. Till then his (Vajpayee’s) ally government led by NC in the state, with a brute majority of 60 members in the assembly, had compromised on already every issue ranging from recommendation of bombing Pakistan to banning of new schools, recruitment to government jobs, banning shahtoos and handing over the best power projects to the Centre.
Mehbooba said the Lok Sabha elections have provided a credible platform for the workers and cadres of the party to build for a decisive mandate from the people. “Instead of breeding over-confidence or complacence, it should inspire us to reach out to all sections of society and those who still are not convinced about our intentions and agenda need to be approached with humility.”She said the political subversion and uncertainty that the state has faced in the last seven decades has already taken a heavy toll on the state, its economy and human resources and it can ill afford any further disruption and the attempts being made currently by some quarters to squeeze the space for its residents will have to be met with maturity, wisdom, collective action and democratic assertion of our rights.
Mehbooba said the credentials of the PDP, in the government and in opposition, are impressive and any comparison of this party with NC is not only out of place, but patently unfair. She said NC has been the dominant political force in the state from last eight decades, half of which period it has been with power with huge electoral majority. Compare to that, she said, Mufti saab has spent most of his political life in opposition and struggling to establish an alternative in a unipolar political system where NC was the only dominant orbiter. “Our comparison is logical and fair only if one considers the 36 months of Mufti saab-led government with the more than 36-years during which NC enjoyed power,” she said.
Mehbooba said the doors of the PDP are open for all the people who have good of the state at heart, and it was positive that professionals and non-professional people who have distinguished themselves in different fields are joining the party in large numbers in all the regions.She said the prospects of a rout in the coming elections have frustrated the government and it is employing all tricks to somehow survive on the political landscape. Mehbooba said the NC-led government is trying to employ strong arm methods against the officials and the workers of the PDP to harass them into submission on the other hand they are making false promises, fake and funny foundation laying and ribbon cutting ceremonies and inventing new methods of selling non-existent jobs. “They have even created a category of employees who are issued orders against unpaid vacancies,” she said and remarked that creation of an unpaid category of employees could only be attributed to the genius of NC, which has used ‘azadi’, ‘raishumari’ and ‘autonomy’ in the past with good results for itself but unpaid category of employees would certainly boomerang on them and this would be their last dirty trick to be played on innocent and gullible people. She said even for unpaid jobs, the agents of the ruling parties are collecting money from the youth.
Reminding the party functionaries about the need of voter registration, Mehbooba said they should make sure that every voters gets registered, who have not registered themselves till now.Speaking on the occasion the party General Secretary, Mohammad Dilawar Mir, said the PDP is strong enough to take up the emerging challenges, posed by the different forces in the state, head-on, but for that the party cadres have to work hard on the ground and make a close liaison with the people. “There are forces active on ground with dangerous agenda to pide the people on the name of religion and region and their every attempt has to be defeated with firmness,” he said. Mir blamed both National Conference and Congress leadership for the mess in the state and said they have to answer for all the frauds and atrocities they have committed in the state over the years.Nizam u Din Bhat, Abdul Haq Khan, Sofi Gh Mohi U Din, Javid Hussain Baig, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Naeem Akhtar, Mohammad Yasir Reshi, Fayaz Ahmad Mir, Mohammad Abbas WAni, Gh Nabi Pandithpori, Raja Aijaz Ali, Nazir Ahmad Naiku, Raja Manzoor and others were also present on the ocaassion. (KNS)