National Conference (NC) General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar Wednesday said that New Delhi’s compelling narratives of progress, modernity and development justifying its unconstitutional actions in J&K had fallen flat and hurt its development path and economy.
A statement of NC issued here said that addressing NC workers at the party’s Nawa-e-Subha headquarters here, Sagar said historically being ranked well than the national average in terms of various Human Development Index (HDI) indicators, the GOI’s actions have undone the development progress and relative economic stability of J&K achieved by the successive NC-led governments.
He said that the ruling dispensation at New Delhi was on a mission to disenfranchise the native population of J&K with its selective policies and a coterie of federally-appointed officers, bereft of democratic bearings, calling the shots.
Sagar said ignoring local youth in job selections was a case in point.
He said under the guise of unleashing Kashmir’s development potential, indigenous populations of J&K – Kashmiris, Dogras, Gujjars, Paharis and others were being systemically sidelined and squeezed by heavy toll taxes, and power tariff and also being denied due share in the decision-making bodies at every level.
He said that the “so-called Naya Kashmir programme” of the ruling dispensation was only confined to shoddy propaganda.
“The flood of fresh investments, job extravaganza, and infrastructure augmentation is nowhere visible on the ground. Far from delivering on the much-touted development promises, people of J&K are continuously being denied their rights,” Sagar said.
NC’s Additional General Secretary Mustafa Kamal also addressed the party workers and said that the new selection lists of India Post and J&K Bank were a telling indictment of the shrinking job avenues of local indigenous youth from jobs in the government sector.