Amid speculations of possible differences among the constituents of Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti Monday termed it “unnecessary” and “baseless theories” aimed to “discredit PAGD”.
She took to the micro-blogging website Twitter and said the PAGD “exists for a much larger cause and purpose”. “Amidst all the unnecessary speculation about PAGD, I’d like make a few things absolutely clear. The purpose of this grand alliance is not for petty electoral gains. It exists for a much larger cause & purpose i.e to restore J&Ks special status (sic),” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.
In another Tweet, she said PAGD’s “purpose to deny BJP and its proxies democratic space has been achieved”.
“A lot of baseless theories are being deliberately floated to discredit PAGD amongst the masses since they overwhelmingly voted for us in the DDC elections. Regardless of who fought how many seats, our purpose to deny BJP & its proxies democratic space has been achieved (sic),” Mehbooba said. She said the arrests of leaders like that of PDP leaders in recent past “will not break the resolve to stand united”.
“Delhi is deeply rattled by PAGD so I expect this false campaign to intensify in the coming days. Many PDP leaders are already arrested & I expect the situation to worsen. But this will not break our resolve to stand united & fight for what is rightfully ours (sic),” Mehbooba wrote in another Tweet. The PDP chief also termed the arrest of PDP youth president Waheed Parra an act of “political vendetta”.
“After getting bail from NIA Court due to lack of evidence, @parawahid has now been booked under UAPA by CIK on fabricated charges in a terror case yet again. This is purely political vendetta against PDP for raising our voice against Delhi’s onslaught,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.
She was reacting to Parra’s arrest by the Counter Insurgency Kashmir (CIK) wing of Police on Monday, two days after he was granted bail by an NIA court in the case related to the PDP youth wing president’s alleged militant links.
Several top leaders of PAGD have demanded action against candidates who contested the District Development Council (DDC) polls as independents in many constituencies against the stand of the PAGD to contest the polls jointly.
Two senior Peoples Conference (PC) leaders, PC Vice President Abdul GaniVakil and General Secretary Imran Reza Ansari and the Peoples Democratic Party RajyaSabha MP Fayaz Mir have already questioned the PAGD leadership about the lack of action against those who defied PAGD stand and contested as independent candidates and won the elections by defeating the official PAGD candidates.