SRINAGAR: Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari has stated that his party signifies a perceptible change in Jammu and Kashmir’s political landscape even though its’ beginning was rooted in the most intricate political circumstances last year.
Addressing a day-long convention held at Bramri in Kupwara in which prominent political activists Mohammad Amin Bhat, Hafizullah Bakhshi along with scores of workers joined Apni Party, Bukhari thanked the people of Jammu and Kashmir for reposing their trust and confidence in Apni Party which has witnessed a considerable rise on account of its unstinted efforts to address the public grievances. “People of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kupwara district had given their unflinching support and would blindly trust many political leaders and their parties in most difficult conditions.
But a cursory look at the developmental index of Kupwara district manifests how those leaders have breached the public trust and have utterly failed in their electoral promises sofar,” he remarked. Bukhari said that Apni Party is committed to truthful politics and will always refrain from emotive and hollow sloganeering. “Our party does not believe in double speak. Since the inception of our party, we have called a spade and spade. We don’t believe in ambiguity and have desisted from obscure politics,” he said while taking a dig on some Valley based political parties. “I will tell you honestly that no elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be referendum on restoration of J&K’s special status and we have always reiterated that abrogation of Articles 370, 35-A can be undone only by two institutions-Parliament or the Supreme Court. In Parliament, we don’t have the requisite numbers and regarding Apex Court, we can only hope and pray that its verdict be as per the aspirations of people of J&K,” Bukhari opined.
He said that if Apni Party attains a position wherein it can take the reins of power in future, it will pursue and ensure an equitable development of all the regions and sub regions of Jammu and Kashmir. “Some political parties promised the moon and the stars to the people of J&K from time to time. From the pre-1953 position, autonomy, independence and now pre August 5, 2019 positions many leaders have innovated different slogans just for their electoral gains,” he remarked. While welcoming the new entrants, Bukhari said that people admire sincerity and transparency while unfortunately such traits were never adopted by the native political parties in J&K.
Senior party leaders- Ghulam Hassan Mir, Javid Hassan Baig, Farooq Andrabi, Raja Manzoor, Shoaib Lone and others also spoke on the occasion.
