Describing the Delimitation Commission draft report as “bizarre”, National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar on Monday said his party will not allow any attempt to divide the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing provincial functionaries, district presidents and constituency incharges of the Jammu division at a day-long meeting at the NC headquarters here, the former minister also termed the report as “sheer mockery” of the universally accepted and constitutionally established norms of peoples’ representation.
The NC leader expressed concern over what he called “repeated attempts of disempowering the people of Jammu and Kashmir by coming up with atrocious measures one after the other.”
“First, the state was bifurcated and its status degraded as a Union Territory and thereafter the exercise for the delimitation was undertaken despite strong pleas of putting it on hold keeping in view the legal challenge in the apex court of the country against the decisions taken post August 5, 2019. The Centre, however, continued with its agenda to disempower Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Sagar said the National Conference is framing up a detailed response to the draft report which is patently against the “constitutional morality, constitutional propriety and constitutional values”.
He urged the rank and file of the party to meet the challenges posed to Jammu and Kashmir unitedly with fortitude and by maintaining the glorious ethos of the land of Sufis and Saints.
Sagar recalled how the National Conference has faced challenges for decades at the strength of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region.
NC’s provincial president, Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta also summarily rejected the draft report, saying that norms have been violated while carrying out the exercise.
“It appears the commission has not taken into consideration the topography and population while coming up with the draft report. Also, the concept of administrative units has been ignored and the constituencies carved out in such a way that would lead to confusion among the people,” he said.
He said parts of the prevailing constituencies have been detached and attached with the other constituencies, thus coming under different administrative units.
Gupta also expressed surprise over “wiping out of several assembly constituencies from the political map of Jammu and Kashmir”.
“Same has been the case with merging assembly constituencies of the two provinces into a single Lok Sabha Constituency which sans reason and logic,” he said.
The two leaders exhorted the National Conference cadre to remain steadfast in their resolve to seek justice for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. ( PTI )
