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Updated May 17th, 2022 at 11:10 IST

Ex-NC MLA dubs Sajad Lone 'militant' in Omar Abdullah's presence post delimitation faceoff

The tensions within the opposition parties in J&K continued to simmer as ex-NC MLA Javed Rana described JKPC chairman Sajad Lone as a former 'militant'. 

Reported by: Akhil Oka
NC, Sajad Lone
Image: @Jacedranaa/Twitter/PTI | Image:self
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The tensions within the opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir continued to simmer as ex-NC MLA Javed Rana described Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC) as a former 'militant'. Sajad Lone, the son of Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Gani Lone who was assassinated in May 2002, was himself a separatist for many years before joining mainstream politics. Rana made the allegation pertaining to Lone during a rally in Mendhar on Monday in the presence of NC vice president and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. 

NC leader Javed Rana said, "The person from Baramulla who was a militant and who is in the People's Conference- they say that a leader should be like him as he speaks fluent English. They hail the gait of the leader and say that this is how a leader should be and not like those from the National Conference...Articles 370 and 35A were abrogated and statehood ended. He doesn't know anything. He doesn't know that this is a loss of face." 

Sajad Lone questions NC role

NC's harsh comments come in the wake of Sajad Lone taking a veiled dig at the Farooq Abdullah-led party over its stance on the J&K delimitation. JKPC had pulled out of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on 19 January 2021, citing infighting within the alliance during the District Development Council polls. Taking to Twitter on May 5 after the Delimitation Commission released its order, JKPC alleged discrimination against Kashmir flagging that its share of Assembly seats increased from 43 to 47 whereas Jammu's share rose from 30 to 43 over the last six decades. 

Lashing out indirectly against the Farooq Abdullah-led party, JKPC observed, "Wish Kashmiri parties had stayed away and not diluted the stigma associated with a people-less process. Hope Kashmiris will remember the parties who associated themselves with delimitation process which was in essential a tool for disempowerment...will always be in wonderment. How could a party which associated itself with the delimitation process be so audacious? They actually had the nerve of submitting one memorandum in Kashmir and a separate memorandum in Jammu. Ironically the memorandums were contradictory."

Moreover, the Sajad Lone-led party announced that it would file an RTI application seeking the video recording of the meetings of some political parties with the Delimitation Commission. It claimed, "Financial scams indulged in during the last few decades cannot be squared off by covertly facilitating disempowerment of the Kashmiris. How stupid we were! We couldn’t see through the game plan. The raids. The EDs. It was all a game. A trade-off. They yet again bartered away the Kashmiris". This was a reference to the fact that both Farooq and Omar Abdullah have been questioned by the ED. 

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Published May 17th, 2022 at 11:10 IST

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