Jammu: A 25-member delegation of the newly-floated political outfit, Jammu and Kashmir ‘Apni Party,’ on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who assured them of ‘restoration of statehood’ status to the recently-created Union territory and also told them that the decisions taken in the future, will be in the interest of both the regions.
The erstwhile state bifurcated into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019, after the abrogation of Article 370. J&K became a UT on October 31, 2019.
Leading the delegation, party president Syed Altaf Bukhari said, ‘We had more than an hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister and he has assured that there will be no change in the demography, while laws to secure job and land rights of the people in Jammu and Kashmir will also come into force soon.’
Talking to UNI on phone, Mr Bukhari said the delegation members raised the domicile certificate issue vis-à-vis of demographic change and delimitation exercise.
‘We expressed that people of Jammu and also of Kashmir want statehood, on which the Prime Minister assured that it would be considered after the delimitation exercise was over,’ he said, adding that the process would be fair and transparent.
According to Mr Bukhari, selective application of laws like Indian Tribal and Forest Act, which is in the interest of people, was also discussed and the Prime Minister assured that it will soon be applied.
The Prime Minister has also assured the delegation that the citizens rights, including that of the domicile, would be protected, he added.
‘Concerns like UPSC, age relaxation and return of Kashmiri Pandits were also taken up during the meeting,’ he said and added that the delegation has expressed that Jammu and Kashmir has no separate agenda and they are facing similar problems.
‘The Prime Minister told us that we have a chance to meet the aspirations of both the regions as a ‘state’ party and assured that whatever decisions will be taken, will be in the interest of people and entire Jammu and Kashmir.’
On conducting of Assembly elections, Mr Bukhari said, ‘We have expressed our desire to hold elections in the newly carved out UT ‘as soon as possible’ and Mr Modi has said that the exercise will begin, once the delimitation process is over.
‘The response of the Prime Minister was overwhelming and he interacted with every delegate and listened to their demands,’ he said.
Meanwhile, one of the members in the delegation said, ‘The Prime Minister spoke about the scrapping of Article 370 and said the decision was taken in the interest of people and was aimed at opening ways for development and prosperity in the region.’
Mr Bukhari led ‘Apni Party’ was officially launched at Srinagar on March 8.
