Apni Party President Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Monday pledged to continue with his struggle against the political disempowerment of people of Jammu and Kashmir that came to a full circle last year by turning a State into a Union Territory. Addressing the Party’s campaign convention at Khannabal in district Anantnag, Bukhari said that Apni Party will ensure that J&K gets its Statehood back and till then the Party will work for protection of land and jobs for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir. “Apni Party considers August 5, 2019 as a black day in J&K’s history. Not only Articles 370 and 35-A were scrapped but our State was bifurcated into two Union Territories (UT) of J&K and Ladakh. Apni Party is committed to fight for restoration of special status in the Supreme Court but till that goal is achieved, we can’t sit with our fingers crossed,” Bukhari observed. He said the Apni Party hopes that the verdict of the Supreme Court comes as a sigh of relief for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “We can’t wait for that verdict of the Supreme Court on August 5, 2019 decisions. We will have to strive for protection of our domicile rights on land and jobs in order to have legal safeguards in our hands,” Bukhari remarked. He said that the Apni Party has adopted a two pronged strategy-one to follow the lawsuit for restoration of special status to J&K in the Apex Court and second to strive for comprehensive domicile laws for protection of land and jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Bukhari said the Apni Party has explicitly explained that the domicile law on lands in J&K is unacceptable to it and needs to be replaced with a new law as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the Apni Party will ensure that no commitments are made with the people which can’t be fulfilled by it. “Our party does not believe in hollow slogans and we pledge to deliver on our promises made with the people,” he added. Apni Party senior vice-president Ghulam Hassan Mir, general secretary Rafi Ahmad Mir and others also addressed the convention.
