Kashmir News Trust [KNT]
Jammu Kashmir Peoples Conference Monday said that it neither accepts nor rejects the clarification of the J&K Administration with regard to the inclusion of non-local voters.
Addressing a press conference here in Kashmir capital Srinagar, the party Chairman Sajad Gani Lone said that they will wait till October 1st when electoral rolls are revised. “If non-locals will be given voting rights, we will sit on hunger strike outside the Parliament of India. This is the battle that can’t be fought in Jammu and Kashmir but we have to take this battle to Delhi and tell the people of India that every state has regional aspirations and there is no role for outsider voters,” Lone said.
“We as a party with all humility neither accept nor reject the clarification given by the government in totality….not that government is waiting for our acceptance. We know the current administration here or in Delhi does not hold political parties of J&K in high esteem, in fact they always display contempt and disdain for them,” Sajad Lone said adding that they have to look at their own people whose final test is on 1st October.
“I think it is a laborious task to bring outsiders and enroll them in such a huge number in Jammu Kashmir voter list till 1st October till government wishes. It is not the law that is a threat to us, it is not the law that we are scared of, we are scared of those who are running the affairs,” Sajad Lone as per news agency Kashmir News Trust said.
He said if they feel something wrong, they will sit on hunger strike in front of the Parliament. “We will tell the people of India what is the fun of a local state when outsiders are allowed to vote,” he said and reiterated that his party will wait till 1st October. He further said that rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir are being compromised.
In response to a question, Sajad Lone said that he will not attend the all-party meeting called by Dr Farooq Abdullah. “I won’t attend the all-party meeting but I respect Farooq Abdullah Sahab. Farooq Sahab can call me any time and I will be at his service but the way Mehbooba Mufti is desperate to retrieve her ground, directing to call a meeting is something which we can’t digest,” Lone said adding that his presence or absence in the all-party meeting will not change the outcome of the meeting.
Pertinently, the National Conference will hold an “all-party meeting” to discuss the issue of the “inclusion of non-local voters” in the revised electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir. (KNT)
