Statehood restoration imperative for holistic development: Altaf Bukhari

Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari Thursday said that the restoration of statehood remains a prerequisite for the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir as the bureaucratic setup was not able to efficiently address the public grievances.

A statement of Apni Party issued here said that addressing a day-long convention held at Bragam-Dooru in south Kashmir’s district Anantnag, Bukhari said his party had been repeatedly urging the Government of India (GoI) not to delay the restoration of statehood to J&K.

“We are of the firm belief that the statehood alone can prove panacea to the people’s sufferings,” he said.

Bukhari said that the rising unemployment rates and the existing sluggish pace in relation with developmental projects in J&K indicate that a formally-elected government was the dire need of the hour.

“Our party has from day one stressed on the issues that matter most to the public welfare and that which affects their routine lives. Our motto has remained humble but without any conning or emotive verbose. We follow the tangible issues while shunning demagogy,” he said.

Bukhari said that many political parties had proclaimed that after the District Development polls would be are over, they would strive to reinstate the pre-August 5, 2019 position in Jammu and Kashmir but until now nothing concrete had been yielded on ground.

“The deceptive and selfish slogans that we heard during the DDC polls raised by certain political parties have somehow disappeared into the blue. Their elected candidates are in the offices now while the talk of the restoration of Article 370 appears to be buried under the rubble. This is an act of treachery wherein they again brazenly tried to befool the people,” he said.

Bukhari said that the people of J&K were not naïve and were the best to judge the political parties on the merit of their public welfare activities rather than mere hollow lip-service.

“The people of J&K are awake and they understand it well those who have tried to con them and who are putting efforts into the interest of public welfare. Apni Party has always tried to alleviate the grievances of the people and just one-year bears witness that without having any vested executive powers, we still proved that if ‘sincerity in effort’ and ‘politics of truth’ is followed, anything can be achieved in a political spectrum,” he said.

Meanwhile, Apni Party Youth General Secretary Muzaffar Reshi expressed concern over the dismal condition of sewage drains and road connectivity in multiple localities of Shehar-e-Khaas.