'Creating difficulties to get statehood for J&K': Apni Party's Altaf Bukhari slams Gupkar

Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari on Thursday slammed the People's alliance for Gupkar Declaration, also known as Gupkar Alliance as he claimed Gupkar is creating difficulties in getting statehood if the Union Territory back.

"Those who looted J&K for 72 years are now creating difficulties for getting the statehood back, only Apni Party will be able to get that. Now they say that we don’t want statehood; they don’t want this happiness for people of Jammu and Kashmir. They may be able to delay but cannot deny the right of statehood," Bukhari said.

The Apni Party won the elections to the post of chairperson of two of the three District Development Councils (DDCs) in polls. The JKAP heads the DDCs in Srinagar and Shopian. However, the newly formed JKAP could not make a substantive impact gaining only 12 seats.

Gupkar Alliance fallout and DDC elections

The Gupkar Alliance was formed by multiple mainstream regional political parties of J&K with the sole purpose of restoring the special status of J&K along with getting its statehood back. National Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah is the president of the alliance.

However, there had been a fallout in Gupkar Alliance as Sajad Lone's JKPC pulled out of the alliance in January citing the allies fielding their proxy candidate on behalf of the Gupkar alliance against the candidates officially mandated by the alliance. The BJP emerged to be the single largest party in the DDC elections but lost to the combined Gupkar alliance.

The results for the J&K DDC elections awarded PAGD 110 seats - with its constituents - NC, PDP, JKPC, CPI(M), and JKPM bagging 67, 27, 8, 5, and three seats respectively. After winning 26 seats in the DDC election, Congress in a stark U-Turn decided to support the Gupkar Alliance. On the other hand, BJP made inroads in the Union Territory by becoming the single-largest party with 75 seats. Independents too made a major dent with 50 seats. The DDC polls were the first electoral exercise after the abrogation of Article 370, held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19 last year.

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Foreign envoys visit Jammu and Kashmir

Meanwhile, as the administration of Union Territory claims development in J&K, foreign envoys from 24 nations are on a 2-days visit to the UT. On the second day of their visit i.e. Thursday, the envoys met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan where a discussion over the delimitation process was held. The J&K Police and Indian Army in Srinagar briefed the 24-member delegation about the security arrangements in the valley. The police also informed about their initiatives in sports, employment opportunities, community engagements, counter-radicalization, how police tackled the Covid-19 situation, infiltration pattern, Pakistan's role, atrocities of Baramulla in 1948 and the Indian Army's role in making terrorists surrender.

On day one, the delegation interacted with locals and noted their views on the actions taken by the local government after meeting the newly elected members of the DDC who showcased the Centre's efforts in ensuring democracy at the grass-roots level through Panchayati Raj, grief redressal, and Block divas celebrations - a public outreach program in which the administration reaches the doorstep of people to address their grievances.

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READ | Foreign Envoys Meet J&K Police & Army; Counter-radicalisation And Other Issues Discussed