Dr Farooq’s speech an attempt to disrupt tourism: Apni Party

Srinagar, Aug 12: Senior leader of Apni Party and Mayor of Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu, today alleged that the speech of National Conference (NC) President Dr Farooq Abdullah in Parliament was an attempt to disrupt the tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement he asked NC “not to try to scuttle normalcy and tourism for politics.” “I condemn the malicious and self-seeking attempts by National Conference President and Member of Parliament for Srinagar, Dr Farooq Abdullah to scuttle normalcy and record tourism inflow into Kashmir,”Mattu said.

He added that while Dr Farooq Abdullah had every right to score political points and while Apni Party had no love lost for the BJP or its policies viz-a-viz Kashmir, it was utterly condemnable and tragic that he went above and beyond to mislead the whole world that Kashmir was not safe for tourism.

“This is a direct attempt to snatch the livelihood of millions of souls in Kashmir who depend on tourism for their survival and livelihood. Dr Farooq might be oblivious to the enormous economic distress that Kashmir’s tourism sector has witnessed in the recent past but the common man is still recovering from that devastation. While every political party is well within its rights to put forth its political narratives and arguments, it is unfortunate that National Conference cannot look beyond its own partisan interests and is ready to set fire to the economy of Kashmir in its efforts to score political points,” Mattu said.

The Apni Party leader also asked Dr Farooq Abdullah to introspect and realise that the genesis of all sufferings, misery, devastation and terrorism in Kashmir lies in his brazen and devastating acts of subverting democracy in 1987 to seek political power. “Two entire generations of Kashmiris lost the right to a normal life due to Dr Farooq Abdullah’s and National Conference’s undemocratic and autocratic crackdown on political opponents in 1987,” he said.