Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said that representatives of all the political parties in J&K will meet the national leaders in Delhi soon to apprise them about the ground situation in the Union Territory and seek their help to restore statehood and conduct of assembly elections here.

They have also decided to hold a meeting with the Election Commission of India seeking conduct of assembly elections in J&K as soon as possible.

“The Prime Minister and Home Minister keep saying that there is peace and normalcy here. The G-20 meeting is also scheduled in May. If this is the situation then why can’t they conduct elections here,” said Abdullah. The National Conference leader chaired an all party meeting here in Jammu in which representatives from all prominent political parties participated.

“We have decided to go to Delhi and meet the national leaders and put forth our issues before them. We will seek their help to restore statehood and conduct of assembly elections as soon as possible,” said Abdullah adding, “We will also go to the election commission and urge national leaders to come with us to press for our demand for elections. He said that the leaders can also raise the issue in the upcoming parliament session. The last assembly elections in J&K were conducted in 2014 and the region has been without an elected government since 2018, when the BJP pulled out of the PDP-BJP coalition government in the erstwhile state of J&K and later that year the then governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly.

“The Supreme Court has also recommended that there must be an election within six months…so elections should happen and statehood should be restored…we don’t want truncated statehood. For the first time in the history of this nation a proud state has been reduced to a UT, this is a tragedy when J&K is an integral part of India,” said Abdullah adding, “We are not traitors. We have fought against the people who wanted to separate J&K from India.”

The former chief minister, who is also the president of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration–an amalgam of regional parties formed in October 2020 to strive for the restoration of statehood and special status of J&K–said that the political parties across the UT are united and after conducting meetings in Delhi they will meet in Kashmir as well. “First we will meet the national leaders and then we will decide about the meetings with the Prime Minister and others in the government,” said Abdullah.

The Lok Sabha member from Kashmir said that the current administration in J&K ‘represents New Delhi and not the people of this region.’“LG does not have to face the people…Here a blacklisted company (Aptech) got the contract to conduct examinations here, at a time when the administration makes tall claims about its anti corruption stance and policies,” said Abdullah adding, “they run bulldozers on properties instead of providing promised jobs to people…Outsiders are given prime official positions here and locals are ignored.”

The former chief minister alleged that the religion is being used to exploit people and hindus and muslims are being instigated against each other.

“This is the place where Gandhi saw a ray of hope when India and Pakistan were burning (in 1947)…Gandhiji talked about Ram Rajya, where everyone is equal…J&K joined Gandhi’s India,” said Abdullah. “When Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley in 1989-90 people of jammu opened their doors from them…this is a secular state and all regions will live and prosper together and this is the crown of India and by the grace of God it will remain the crown of India,” said Abdullah.

The NC leader also lamented that even the media is not free to report and show what they want to. “Can you write and show what you want?” Abdullah asked. The NC parliamentarian said that ‘scare mongering’ has become a routine across the country. “Will you throw 24 crore muslims in the sea or send them to China,” Abdullah asked.

The Lok Sabha member from Kashmir said that the opposition across the country should focus on unity and try to win the election in 2024. “Everybody has the right to become prime minister but first they need to win elections. Unity is strength and that is what we have tried to focus on in Tamil Nadu recently,” said Abdullah.

In the all party meeting Abdullah was joined by Harshdev Singh of National Panther’s Party, Viqar Rasool Wani of J&K Congress, Raman Bhalla, Taranjit Singh Tony of Aam Aadmi Party, M Y Tarigami of CPI (M), Manish Sahwany of J&K Shiv Sena and Amreek Singh Reen of the PDP.