Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra on Wednesday announced a 15-day long campaign to press for restoration of statehood to the Union Territory.
He said the campaign will be launched from Udhampur district on February 13 as the “BJP has so far failed to keep its statehood restoration promise and we have doubts about their intentions”.
Karra, who is also an MLA, said there is a strange dilemma prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir where people are gradually developing cynicism after participating in the democratic exercise in large numbers with the hope of getting their day-to-day issues addressed.
“The demand for restoration of statehood is a key issue before and after the assembly elections. We reminded the prime minister (Narendra Modi) and home minister (Amit Shah) of the promises and commitments made within and outside Parliament and on the soil of J&K about it,” said Karra.
“We want our right to statehood to be restored as soon as possible. There is a cold attitude on the part of the government which has failed to explain the ‘appropriate time’ it is using for delaying this right to the people of J&K…we have doubts on their intentions,” he told reporters here.
Accusing the ruling party at the Centre of ‘betraying the people” of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the BJP leadership is answerable for the delay in restoration of the statehood.
“We will accelerate our campaign for the restoration of statehood, which is a 175-year-old heritage of the Dogra legacy which is being made fun of by the BJP. We are starting a 15-day ‘restore our statehood’ campaign from tomorrow (Thursday) under the title ‘our state, our right’ from Udhampur,” he said.
The Congress leader also paid rich tributes to the two army personnel, including a captain, who lost their lives in an IED attack near the LoC in Akhnoor sector of Jammu on Tuesday and said “such incidents expose the tall claims of the government that everything is fine and hunky-dory.”
“There are killings of security forces and civilians every now and then. We strongly condemn the dastardly act in (Akhnoor) but condemnation alone will not fix the situation,” he said, adding the security forces are directly working under the command of the Centre, which needs to come clean on the growing terror incidents.
Karra also demanded a judicial probe into the recent suicide of a young man after alleged police harassment in Kathua district and also sought an end to alleged rise in criminal activities in Jammu.
The Congress leader said people have lost hope due to failure of the government to address their issues due to the dual power centre in the Union Territory.
“People are saying that they voted for resolution of their daily issues whether related to electricity, ration, roads and water. They are feeling that the vote has not benefited them as the administration is facing confusion on business rules which have not been cleared so far. The statehood restoration is also pending, adding to the people’s concern,” he said.
Karra said the committee, which was set up by the government to finalise business rules, will present its report soon to provide relief to people.
