National Conference president Farooq Abdullah Sunday announced that his son, Omar Abdullah, will be the party’s chief ministerial candidate.

Kick-starting the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha polls here, the party chief said he will represent Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament.

“I will not be the chief minister. The chief minister will be Omar Abdullah as he is young. I am old and I cannot match the energy of young people, but he can. I will go to Parliament and I have full faith that I will be there,” Abdullah said addressing a party rally at Bahu Fort here.

Accusing the BJP of dividing the people and spreading hatred in the country, he said that the country had to be strengthened within and there was a need to fight polarisation, hatred and injustice.

The former chief minister asked people to support those candidates who could run the country based on the principle of equality.

He also countered allegations that the National Conference discriminated against Jammu and Ladakh.

In a veiled dig at the BJP, he said the state emblem of ‘Lotus’ was testimony that the state never discriminated against anyone unlike the party, which shared the lotus emblem, and was “dividing people on the basis of religion and spreading hatred”.

“Let us pray for unity and love, let us pray that those people come to power (at the Centre) who can understand the pain of the people and do not only raise slogans as slogans cannot run this country,” he said.

Without naming the BJP, Abdullah alleged that the party had purchased television channels and newspaper offices and unleashed a propaganda to mislead the people.

Slamming the BJP and the RSS for accusing him of being a Pakistani, he said recently his party worker was killed because he was holding the tricolour.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP-led NDA, he claimed that when CRPF personnel were killed in Chhattisgarh, no one from the BJP visited them to offer floral tributes.

On the Ram temple issue, he asked the Centre who was stopping it from constructing the shrine at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

“Muslims are not against the temple’s construction but they (leaders) are using the issue to spread hatred and divide people. Was the Ram only of Hindus? Your books teach that he belonged to everyone, just like Muslims believe that Allah is not only for Muslims but for the entire world,” he said.

He hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking what happened to the poll promises made by his party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“Today I want to ask Modi whether inflation has come down or increased for petrol and diesel during his rule. What happened to the promise of two crore jobs each year and how many from the state got employment in the past five years? What happened to the promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh to the account of each family,” he asked.

“How long will we hear this falsehood,” the former chief minister asked.

Abdullah said Indus Water treaty between India and Pakistan had resulted in injustice to the state as “we are not able to use our water resources to the advantage of the people”.

“It (Centre) was planning to stop the flow of the river Chenab to Pakistan but reality dawned upon them because it is not possible given the treaty,” he said.

Abdullah criticised the BJP for not completing any project to ensure drinking water to the people of Jammu who have to buy it for daily use.(PTI)

BARAMULLA, MARCH 17: Two days special cleanliness drive concluded today at Government High School, Khawja Bagh Baramulla.

The drive organized by Municipal Corporation (MC) Baramulla in collaboration with District Administration was launched by Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Dr G N Itoo on the bank of river Jhelum as part of nationwide campaign  “Swachh Bharat Mission”.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner highlighted the importance of the drive and said that such events shall be organized at places of public importance. He said that such an ambitious mission conveys a pious message which should be followed in letter and spirit. Meanwhile, he stressed upon all stakeholders especially students to exercise such drives in their respective areas so that the goal of hygienic environment is achieved.

Deputy Commissioner also underlined the need of public cooperation and said that without active participation of people, the mission of sanitation cannot be achieved.

Srinagar, Mar 17 : People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Qayoom Wani on Sunday expressed his dismay at the arrest of Moulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri and slapping of PSA on him.

 
Wani questioned the acts where the religious scholars like Veeri Shb are arrested and imprisoned under the most notorious act of Public Safty.

PDP leader warned that such acts could be detrimental creating more alienation in people and the voices get muzzled.

He demanded immediate release of Veeri and all Jamaat-e-islami leaders arrested under frivolous charges. 

A Q Wani said that it was shocking to see the double standards of the dispensation. On one hand the government speaks high of democratic principles but at the other hand uproots the bases of the democratic set-up by silencing the voices of socio political and religious organisations. 

PDP leader condemned the massacre in Christchurch New Zealand where 49 innocent people were martyred during prayers in a Masjid.

Wani invited the entire humanity to condemn the barbaric act and demanded that killer should be hanged in broad daylight so that such inhuman acts may not occur in future. 

Srinagar, Mar 17 : Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday held a youth convention in Devsar, south Kashmir in which thousands of youth supporters of the party along with senior leaders took part.

According to the party spokesman, senior PDP leader Mohammad Sartaj Madni while addressing the convention underscored the need for the greater efforts aimed at addressing the growing alienation among the youth of the state and said that if immediate measures aren’t taken to address the mounting anger and disgruntlement sauntering in every street at present, the situation could prove more troublesome and uncontrollable. 

“The way in which the government is militating against the youth of the state, the situation has gone back to what was being witnessed prior to 2002 with nocturnal raids, arrests, tortures, constitutional frauds becoming order of the day,” Madni said. 

He demanded that the torture being inflicted upon the youth with a sole objective to push them towards the wall must stop without further delay and those at the helm should understand that such iron fist and trigger happy approaches have only proved counterproductive in the past. “Repeating the same old mistakes will prove calamitous. The only way out is to initiate meaningful dialogue with all stake holders and resolve Kashmir at an earliest to stop the vicious cycle of violence,” said Madni. 

The convention was also addressed by the PDP’s Youth Wing President Waheed-ur-Rahman Parra who stressed for the greater synergized efforts to strengthen the PDP further and make it a strong force in Jammu and Kashmir’s political landscape. He added that channelizing the talent of youth of the state has always been PDP’s prime focus and that the party always remained in the forefront to address their concerns. 

Among several senior PDP leaders, Block Presidents Ghulam Hassan Lone, Peerzada Mohammad Shafi, Sheikh Gulzar Ahmad, Ghulam Mohammad Mir, Vice District president Riyaz Ahmad Dar were also present on the occasion.