New Political Equations And Alliances In Valley

Jammu: New political alliances have started taking shape in Kashmir as an alternative to the regional political groupings of the National Conference and PDP to fit into the imagination of the youth whose expectations have risen quite high and stand disillusioned with the current politics.

Prominent faces of Kashmir politics in a marathon meeting lasting for several hours in Srinagar on Tuesday took up the issue of the purported delimitation of the constituencies in the state, and voiced their apprehension that in the absence of an elected body and its mandate such an exercise is fraught with dangerous consequences of alienation and also what they feared “weakening of the secular fabric of the state.”

Among those who attended the meeting were Ghulam Hassan Mir, a former minister who also is among founders of the Peoples Democratic Party, former Finance Minister Altaf Bukhari who was tipped as Chief Minister of the joint grouping of the PDP, NC and Congress in November last year, CPM leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami.

Engineer Rasheed, a former legislator and who emerged as a strong candidate in the recently concluded parliamentary elections from the Baramulla constituency, was among the participants.

The delimitation was chosen as a meeting point to start the process of joining hands and throwing an alternative to the parties which have been tried and tested by the people. The politics of disillusionment has frustrated the voters and they are unwilling to take part unless there are some trustworthy voices in the fray.

These leaders vowed that they would not allow any design to “dilute the sanctity of the state constitution and aspirations of the people.” The leaders felt that any such move without following the due process can further alienate the people and will weaken the secular fabric of the state.

“They urged the state and Central governments not to vitiate the atmosphere by such attempts which will also be in violation of the Constitution. They said such issues must be left to the elected government of the state.

“It is not necessarily for electoral politics that we are trying to come together, the basic objective is to change the politics in J&K that meets expectations of the youth. Our focus is on youth, and at the same time we want to give due respect to experience,” one of the participants told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

“We want to give voice to the disillusioned people,” he said.
(The Tribune)