Apni Party president Syed Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday said his party will “not tolerate any injustice to any district” of J&K in the exercise of Delimitation which was underway. Speaking with media persons on the sidelines of Apni Party’s maiden convention in Srinagar, Bukhari confirmed that his party has participated in the Delimitation exercise.
“The Delimitation Commission was formed and it was said that assembly polls will take place once its report is filed. I hope that the report will be handed over soon. Unfortunately mainstream political parties boycotted the Commission but I want to assure people that our party is fully representing them,” Bukhari said. “We will not allow any injustice and the moment we notice there is injustice with any district, I will be the first person to raise my voice,” Bukhari said.
He said the District Development Council (DDC) polls had proven that the narrative created by the mainstream parties that casting a vote was against the “Kashmir issue” has been proven wrong, he said. “With these polls, people have identified that there is no connection between the Kashmir issue and the elections. This is the largest victory of these elections,” Bukhari said. He accused parties such as PDP and NC of “deceiving people” in the past by creating a narrative “that voting equals to being a traitor”. “This is a victory of the Apni Party that this deception of these parties has come to an end. These DDC polls are a way for development and have nothing to do with any sort of a political issue,” Bukhari said.
When asked why Apni Party was allowed to hold a major convention when there were restrictions on political activities of other parties, Bukhari said, “I don’t think there is any restriction, these parties go where they want to and make excuses of where they don’t want to visit.”