Srinagar :Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Senior leader and Member of Parliament Muhammad Akbar Lone on Friday said development activity in Kashmir has come to a standstill and people’s woes have deepened owing to the administrative inertia.
Addressing party workers, functionaries and scores of delegations from north Kashmir at his residence here, Lone said the party has faced turbulent times, but each time it has resurrected itself owing to close bond of trust it shares with people.
“At present, J&K is in the throes of crisis. The representative voices continue to remain incarcerated and those outside are not being looked up to while taking decisions. Every day we see how far-reaching measures and administrative decisions are taken. What is being done in J&K is not compatible with democracy,” Lone, said in a statement.
Lone, while referring to the prolonged detention of party President, Farooq Abdullah, Vice-President Omar Abdullah, Ali Muhammad Sagar and others said their constant absence from the political landscape of J&K was not in favor of the country in general and J&K in particular.
“By denigrating mainstream politics in Kashmir, the incumbent government has created a dangerous vacuum, reversing all gains of the past two decades. It was our party which had to shoulder coffins of its scores of leaders and thousands of workers to reinstate faith of people in democracy and rule of law,” Lone said.
Decrying “vilification of tallest representative voices” of J&K, Lone said, “They were the ones who stood turbulent times braving odds in a place which has been fraught with conflict and terrible consequence of it.
The continued incarceration of tall representative voice, former Chief Ministers, sitting Member of Parliament is not a good omen. By detaining Dr Farooq Abdullah, a sitting Member of Parliament, the central government has sent clear signals of its contempt for Kashmiri representation.
It is disrespectful to have a sitting MP, whom former PM, (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee referred to as the third party to Kashmir in confinement.”