Kangan, May 18: The President of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that overwhelming response to PDP in the ongoing Panchayat elections was endorsement of the pro-peace policies propagated by her party and appreciation of the good work done by the previous PDP-Congress regime in the state.
 Addressing a function here to felicitate newly elected Sarpanchs and Panchs of Kangan area, Mehbooba Mufti said that outcome of the on-going Panchayat elections also reflects peoples’ anger against the “misgovernance” of the present dispensation headed by National Conference.
 She said that over-whelming response to her party in the elections is a clear indication that the people have once again reposed their faith in the policies of PDP and they are fed up with the misdeeds of present regime due to rampant corruption and nepotism in the administration. 
PDP cautioned that National Conference, despite being “rejected” by the people in the ongoing Panchayat elections, has been preparing ground to make way to impose its men as block heads or district heads of the local self government through illegal means. “NC led government has been brazenly trying lure the newly elected Panchayat members so as to capture the local self government”, she pointed out and exhorted the Panchayat members to jointly frustrate such “evil designs” of NC to discredit the whole institution which they have established by putting their lives on stake.
 She reminded that NC led government has already “discredited” the prestigious institution of Legislative Council by “purchasing BJP MLAs to ensure victory of its candidates and the now the government is desperate to undermine sanctity of the institution of local self government.”
 “By putting their lives on risk, people have restored credibility of this institution by coming out in large number to exercise their right to franchise but the government, on the other hand, is trying to capture it through undemocratic means”, she observed and expressed her reservation over statement of the government that Panchayats would be empowered after 18 months.
 Calling upon all the newly elected Panchayat members to work for restoring peace and tranquility in the State, Mehbooba Mufti sought cooperation of the Panchayat members to pursue the Self Rule agenda of her party which would usher an “era of peace and prosperity” in the State.
 She reminded the gathering that Mufti Muhammad Sayeed as Chief Minister of the State, had set a standard of governance and asked the Panchayat members to live up to that standard by serving the people with dedication and sincerity.
 “PDP through its agenda wants to restore dignity and honour of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and to make Jammu and Kashmir economically self-reliant”, she said, adding,  “In our Self-Rule proposal we demand rights on our water resources so that we can utilize these resources properly to make our State economically self-reliant”.
 Asserting that Kangan would emerge as gateway of Central and South Asia, she said, “Before 1947 Kashmir was connected through different routes, with Central and South Asia but all the routes were closed after partition.  She said that self-rule aimed at opening all traditional routes to make Kashmir as a business and trade centre of this region.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 IST