Srinagar, Aug 2: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and senior congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad Monday said that the assurance given by the Prime Minister and Home Minster in the all-party meeting should be implemented in short-term as it will benefit the people.
While addressing a press conference at Jammu, Azad, according to local news agency KNS, said that there is no representative in Kashmir for the last four years which is the biggest cause of under development, pushing it back in many fields.
He said that Governor rule alone is not enough to make progress in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is very important to have an assembly too as we have got feedback from the people as well,” he said.
He said that Jammu and Kashmir has been going through a bad phase for the last four years as there has been a lot of poverty in Kashmir over the last several years and people are getting poorer with each passing day.
“Tourism has been affected while Handicraft work is also coming to an end in Kashmir, the same thing is happening with fruit industry. In Jammu’s Samba and Kathua 75% industry is closed now, these are the issues I have said in the Parliament,” Azad said.
“It is very important for everyone including political parties to participate in the elections in Kashmir at this stage now because if anyone refuses to contest the election, we will be in trouble again which I don’t want at all,” he said, adding that if Jammu and Kashmir will be given the status of a state first, then the people here will participate in the elections in a good way.
About new move in Kashmir related security clearance of people to get passports, Azad said that in Kashmir, stone pelters used to be locked up in jails even before this.
“This is nothing new and everyone knows that anyone who speaks against the country has to stay in jail and it doesn’t require any verification,” he added.