PAGD to contest district council, panchayat polls

Srinagar: In a major political development, People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), after hours of consultations, told media this evening that they will participate in the coming District Development Council polls and bypolls for panchayats in entire J&K so as not to give a “cake walk” to the BJP.

PAGD spokesperson Sajad Gani Lone, accompanied by other leaders of the alliance, said that candidates will be decided by alliance head Farooq Abdullah as it would be a united fight. Lone said, “All the modalities and new administrative rules will be looked into after these elections.” Earlier, one of the constituents of the alliance, JK Congress, had announced to participate in this local election in order to fight BJP on the ground.

Holding the third meeting, People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration in Jammu has conveyed to the people of Jammu that only a collective fight to safeguard their snatched rights is the key to move forward.

On Saturday, a joint meeting was held at the Bathindi residence of Farooq Abdullah and all the important leaders including Mehbooba Mufti participated in the meeting.

Recently, PAGD held important deliberations with people of Kargil and got their support for the “future political resistance to be launched peacefully” by this new platform in all three regions of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, Farooq Abdullah held a meeting at his party headquarters in Jammu on Friday and told them that he will not die unless he will make this resistance to succeed and people of Jammu and Kashmir get back their rights.