People of JK can’t be divided: Altaf Bukhari

Jammu, Mar 19: Apni Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari on Saturday said that people of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be divided despite attempts to create hatred among the people of the two Regions.
Addressing a Jammu Lawyer’s meet, Altaf Bukhari said that “The issues and aspirations of the people of both the regions are common and hence, the attempts to divide them will never succeed.”
The meet was organized by Spokesperson of Apni Party and Senior Advocate Nirmal Kotwal, Vice President Legal Cell Apni Party, Adv Zulker Nain Sheikh and General Secretary Legal Cell Kuldeep Singh.
He said that “A section of people in Jammu celebrated the removal of Art 370 but gradually they too realized that their Statehood status has been downgraded to Union Territory, unemployment has increased to historic level and the developmental activities have stopped.”
“With absence of good governance, the people of Jammu also started raising their voice demanding restoration of Statehood and democratic systems in J&K by holding assembly elections. The people are in distress and they have no hope,” he said.
As the people from both the Regions share common feelings and equal sufferings, he said they got united which is not being appreciated.
“To hurt this unity, repeated attempts are being made to create a wedge between the two regions again which the Apni Party will not allow to happen,” he said, and added that his Party however will fight for the unity of J&K and restoration of democratic institutions. These institutions have weakened from the last three years in absence of an elected Govt,” he said addressing the Jammu Lawyers.
He said that “For the smooth running of democratic system, the strengthening of the democratic institutions are important where the judiciary is strong and the rights of the people are protected and protection of these institutions is possible because the lawyers play a vital role in it.”
“The lawyers are the important segment to protect democratic system and the judiciary provides justice when it is strong. Therefore, we need to have an elected and democratic Govt in place to end the suffering of the people without regional or religious bias,” he said.
Earlier, he was presented a memorandum of demands by the lawyers of Jammu concerning various issues being faced by them. The Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari assured them that their demands would appropriately be mitigated.
He also praised the young lawyers of Jammu for their competence and intelligence despite so many odd and unsuitable working conditions.