Srinagar: National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah Tuesday called for empowering women and girls to leadership roles.
Addressing a day-long convention of NC’s newly-formed women’s wing body of south Kashmir’s Shopian district at the party’s Nawa-e-Subha headquarters here, Abdullah said that due to the prevailing situation, the women of Jammu and Kashmir had been the worst sufferers.
“Discrimination and depravity at the societal and domestic level with our mothers and sisters are not unknown in this part of the world. Our sisters and mothers are bearing an additional burden of political instability and conflict as well. The young population of Kashmir, especially the girls, is extremely vulnerable to the repercussions of excessive surveillance, suspicion, joblessness, killings, and torn families. Beyond these torments, people across Kashmir suffer from the loss of agency in negotiating their everyday lives due to price rise, administrative apathy, and widespread fear. A complex web of repercussions has ensnared the lives of Kashmiri women,” he said. “Rising unemployment in J&K is also having a cascading effect on our promising women. However, it’s exciting to see aspiring girls well educated and well equipped with strong leadership skills join our fold wave after wave. Having women in politics, it goes without saying, will attune party policies towards the needs of women and prepare them for the leadership roles to face the challenges of the present and future. I hope that the newly-elected body members will help in strengthening the party at the grass-root level and also in peacemaking and development in the region.”
Exhorting the newly-constituted women’s body to work to increase the foothold of the party, Abdullah said that the contemporary generation of women and girls had eminent and towering women figures to draw inspiration from including Begum Akbar Jehan among others such powerful women.
He said that the need of the hour was to give a platform to aspiring women and help in creating impactful voices to take on the looming challenges.
“I hope that the newly-constituted women’s body will work with a sense of belonging towards the party. Individually also, the women functionaries should always lend themselves available for the service of people,” Abdullah said.
The convention was presided over by state women’s wing president Shameema Firdous.
NC General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, Provincial President, Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani, Muhammad Shafi Uri, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Member of Parliament Muhammad Akbar Lone, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Ahsan Pardesi, Sajad Shafi (Uri), Tanvir Sadiq, Showkat Ahmed Ganai, Sheikh Muhammad Rafi, Salman Ali Sagar, Sabiya Qadri, Nisar Ahmed Nisar, Mehmooda Nisar, Ifra Jan, Asiya Jameel were also present on the occasion.