Jammu: The ousted Congress leaders and former ministers Gulchain Singh Charak and Abdul Gani Vakil, on Wednesday launched a “movement” to fight “power and dynastic politics” in Jammu and Kashmir. While the two senior political leaders have set-up a party structure, they are shy of calling it a political outfit.
“The holders of political power make public fight on religious grounds even as our culture is getting destroyed,” former Congress Vice President Abdul Gani Vakil said. Vakil is the Presdient of the new “movement” named Jammu and Kashmir Bacaho Tehreek (Save Jammu and Kashmir Movement). “Those engaged in a dynastic rule are the main culprits, they are ruining the youth of Jammu and Kashmir”.
Four of the “movement’s” five founding members – Vakil, Charak, Irfan Hafiz Lone and Mohammad Rafiq Shah – have fought elections in the past. However, despite their political background, members insisted that the initiative is apolitical and does not aim to transform into a political party. The founders hinted at further meetings in Jammu among other regions in the state where they aim to mobilise formal volunteers.
While Vakil, Shah and Lone have unsuccessfully contested elections in past, Charak was the former Congress legislator from Jammu. Only the State Secretary of the new outfit Syed Gowhar Aharbali doesn’t have a political background. Talking of the regional divide in the state, Charak, a Dogra leader and patron of the new outfit said: “Kashmir is getting isolated even as the bungalows of today’s politicians lie in Jammu, we have to include all stakeholders, whether it is Ladakh, Jammu or Kashmir”.
The founders conveyed their concerns about braid chopping incidents, saying “daughters and sisters are now being targeted in these dangerous times”. “We are compelled to work as the situation is going from bad to worse” said Chief Spokesperson Lone, while elaborating the reasons for the formation of new outfit.
The launch of the “movement” comes days after the appointment former IB chief Dineshwar Sharma as the interlocutor to initiate dialogue with different stakeholders. Speaking on the matter, president of the movement, Vakil said ‘All stakeholders should be consulted and in my opinion, even Pakistan”.
