JAMMU: Shamima Firdous, State President Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Women Wing and ex MLAhas asserted that there is a dire need to empower the women, especially those living in Jammu and Kashmir who have witnessed and face the worst period of terror onslaught for over three decades.
She emphasized that in order to empower women the first and foremost essential in today’s scenario is the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for the weaker sex in the highest temples of democracy i.e. in the Assembly and Parliament.
The JKNC women’s wing leader stated this while addressing the party convention held at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan to discuss the issues related to women threadbare here today. She was the Chief Guest during the aforesaid convention. The convention was held under the chairmanship of Satwant Dogra, Provincial President Women Wing, JKNC, Jammu. NC Provincial President Rattan Lal Gupta and senior NC leader Bimla Luthra were also present on the occasion.
Shamima Firdous said that it is really an irony that women despite playing a vital role in society continue to be at the receiving end even in the present-day world when rapid technological strides have reduced the world to a global village. She said that young women are today struggling amid acute unemployment and in such a situation how can the unemployed women feel empowered?
The former MLA castigated the Union Govt as well as the J&K Administration not only for having failed to provide employment to the women folk but having plunged the weaker sex into a sea of miseries due to their misrule amid anti-people policies. “Today women across Jammu and Kashmir are facing huge problems and it is the duty of the government to address their concerns and issues at the earliest.”
The Provincial President Rattan Lal Gupta, in his address, said that the wrong policies of the BJP Govt have dealt a heavy blow to J&K’s prosperity and development bringing it to an all-time low. He criticized the Government for imposing property tax and carrying out demolition drives. He demanded that property tax should be kept in abeyance till the elections were held and the decision should be taken by the people’s representative Govt.
Gupta asked BJP leadership instead of imposing property tax through the government the same should be kept in its manifesto and let the people elect its government. He warned the government at the center and in J&K not to force any decision arbitrarily and undemocratically failing which the people have left no other option but to come on the roads. He demanded that elections to the J&K Assembly should be held at the earliest and also give statehood before the election.
Senior NC leader Bimla Luthra said that every section of the society has been suffering due to the aforesaid policies and women and youth being the worst hit. She said that the progress made during the NC rule in J&K has gone down the drain as the works started by the party including those for women empowerment have been brought to a halt due to politics of deceit played by the BJP with the people.
Satwant Dogra, while addressing the NC cadre, said that while women were already facing huge problems in running their kitchens due to skyrocketing prices of edibles of daily use, the Govt continues to hike the LPG price unabated thus making the women’s kitchen problems more complex. She said that moreover there are no takers in the UT Administration in absence of a duly elected representative Govt in J&K. She asked women of Jammu and Kashmir to support National Conference in the upcoming elections for the equitable development of the state.
