Jammu : Describing the Delimitation Commission Draft Report as bizarre, General Secretary Haji Ali Mohammad Sagar Monday said that the National Conference will not allow any attempt to divide the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing provincial functionaries, district presidents and constituency incharges of the Jammu division at a day-long meeting at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan, Mr Sagar also termed the report as sheer mockery of the universally accepted and constitutionally established norms of peoples’ representation.
The General Secretary expressed concern over the repeated attempts of disempowering the people of Jammu and Kashmir by coming up with atrocious measures one after the other. First, the state was bifurcated and its status degraded as a Union Territory and thereafter the exercise for the delimitation was undertaken despite strong pleas of putting it on hold keeping in view the legal challenge in the apex court of the country against the decisions taken post August 5, 2019. The Centre, however, continued with its agenda to dis-empower Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
Sagar said the National Conference is framing up a detailed response to the draft report which is patently against the constitutional morality, constitutional propriety and constitutional values. He urged the rank and file of the party to meet the challenges posed to Jammu and Kashmir unitedly with fortitude and by maintaining the glorious ethos of the land of Sufis and Saints. Sagar recalled how the National Conference has faced challenges for decades at the strength of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region.
Speaking on the occasion, Provincial President Mr Rattan Lal Gupta summarily rejected the draft report, saying that norms have been violated while carrying out the exercise. Gupta said that it appears the Commission has not taken into consideration the topography and population while coming up with the draft report. Also, the concept of administrative units has been ignored and the constituencies carved out in such a way that would lead to confusion among the people. Parts of the prevailing constituencies have been detached and attached with the other constituencies, thus coming under different administrative units, he added.
