Farooq Abdullah’s home hosting PAGD’s meeting

SRINAGAR — The constituents of Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Thursday convened a meeting at Dr Farooq Abdullah’s Gupkar residence in Srinagar on the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

Sources said that the meeting was underway, which started at around 11:00 AM at conglomerate president’s home.

They said that Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami and Muzaffar Shah were present in the meeting.

PAGD calls BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ slogan a hoax

The PAGD described Bhartiya Janata Party’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ slogan a hoax.

In a statement, issued here on Wednesday, August 4, the conglomerate said, “People have started questioning those in authority as [to] what they have achieved by destroying Kashmir which came into being through protracted historic struggle of the people of J&K.”

The Government went beyond all constitutional bounds when it demolished the J&K Constitution, according to PAGD’s statement.

It said that by downgrading a historic State and dividing it into two separate Union Territories without the consent of the people, and by ignoring the resolution passed by the J&K Legislature on March 3, 2004, to preserve the State’s unity and secular character, [the Government] has set a precedent that any State can cease to exist as a State and be carved up into any number of fragments at any time.

The PAGD, whose members met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 24, 2021 along with 13 other leaders from J&K, said that the repeal of Article 35-A rendered the status of permanent residents obsolete.

PAGD aims to restore J-K’s special status

The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is an electoral alliance in Jammu and Kashmir involving numerous regional political groups focused at restoring special status along with Article 35A of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.

National Conference chief Dr Farooq Abdullah is the alliance’s president.

Member political parties of PAGD include Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference and Jammu & Kashmir People’s Movement.