Says will get back what has been ‘snatched illegally’.
Srinagar: During the first public outreach programme in Drass, Omar Abdullah on Friday said that whatever has been “snatched from the people of Jammu and Kashmir” would be taken back as this has been done illegally and decisions are being imposed by force and not by public consent.
The people’s alliance for Gupkar Declaration, in the past few days, have started consultations with their party activists in Jammu and Ladakh to start public contact programmes for a “united fight” against the decisions of the Central government, especially in the backdrop of the recent amendments to the land laws, though exempted for Ladakh.
Before the LAHDC elections, all political forces, including local BJP and civil society groups, decided to boycott these elections unless the Centre guarantees separate special status or Bodo type tribal guarantees for the people of Ladakh. They had a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah who assured them that after the elections, people of Ladakh would get a special status guaranteed by the Union government.
The boycott call was taken back, but the fears among the youth got reflected during the voting as the BJP could get only 15 seats and the Congress performed better than the previous year in this election. Local BJP leaders were expecting a clean sweep in all the 26 seats as they had “delivered” on the promise to give a separate Union Territory to Ladakh, along with fresh assurances that jobs and land would be protected by a special law from the Centre.
Tsering Nurboo has emerged as a new face of the Congress by winning one of the seats from the Basgo segment. He told the media that the party will fight for Sixth Schedule status for the Ladakh region. Most of the candidates who have won in the latest LAHDC elections are now waiting for notification from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for a special law to protect land and jobs.
While the wait is on, Congress, the National Conference, PDP and other forces, especially social and religious organisations, both in Leh and Kargil, have started consultations that they may provide support to the People’s Alliance of Gupkar Declaration for their fight against the Central laws.noor