Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar on Friday said that the party is committed to the country’s secularist tradition and unity in diversity.
This Sagar, according to the NC spokesperson, said while presiding over a meeting of Party functionaries of Jammu Urban, Jammu Rural A, Jammu Rural B, Samba, Reasi, and Kathua districts at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan, Jammu. Among others, Provincial President Rattan Lal Gupta, senior leader AG Malik, District presidents were also present on the occasion.
While addressing the functionaries Sagar said that the defining characteristics of NC has been that it has been able to sustain democratic governance and equitable development of all ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in J&K. “Kashmiris, Dogras, Gujjars, Paharis have all remained deeply attached to their sense of collective history and to their identity. Efforts that are being made to break this bond will be resisted and its JKNC under the able leadership of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah is spearheading this movement once again,” he said adding, “People of J&K are fed-up with the hollow promises made over the period last four years. It is time that we tell the people in power that enough is enough. Nobody can take people of J&K for granted.”
Sagar said that there is no scope for communal politics in J&K, saying the people of the region, particularly Jammu have long been living in amity and brotherhood. “Jammu has wholeheartedly welcomed distressed groups from all the corners of the region. Communal harmony has long been the harmony of the people of Jammu, Pir Panjal and Chenab. It is high time that we join our efforts to protect this priced heirloom of ours,” he said. On the occasion, he asked the party cadre to gear up for the upcoming observance of Sher e Kashmir’s death anniversary.
In his address, Rattan Lal Gupta said, “NC has always been a great advocate of secularism and will continue to do so. We don’t need lessons of secularism from others. Our party has withstood all the vestibules of time. It was in our efforts that the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi saw a ray of hope.”
He further added, “The youth of Jammu are hankering for basic rights. Unemployment has reached its crescendo. In the forthcoming elections, people of Jammu have made up their minds to teach the BJP and its cronies a lesson in their life.”
