Srinagar: Insiders in the National Conference (NC) have said that they will, after a lot of interactions, take a final stand on how to go for “political struggle” for the restoration of Article 370. Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that the only core issue was how to fight for the restoration of Article 370 and release of incarcerated PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. Abdullah also admitted that he was in constant touch with her.
Talking to media persons at his Gupkar residence after the first in-person meeting with his senior party leaders, including two sitting MPs, he said that it was the first interaction with party colleagues and indicated that a collective, democratic struggle would be launched for the restoration of special status of J&K and called it the only core issue for the mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, two senior leaders of National Conference and PDP told this reporter that Farooq Abdullah assured Mehbooba Mufti and other mainstream political leaders that he will stand by the August 4, 2019 joint declaration, known as “Gupkar Declaration”, of all mainstream political parties at his residence at Gupkar road. That meeting was attended by all mainstream political parties of Kashmir, including J&K Congress, PDP, and the Sajad Lone-led PC, along with dozens of other political organisations.
These two leaders said that Mehbooba Mufti, through her emissaries, reminded Farooq Abdullah of the joint declaration to fight as one unit for the restoration of Article 370 and stand by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti had reportedly conveyed her displeasure at the utterances of Omar Abdullah that restoration of statehood could be a starting point to go ahead with political activities here. Omar Abdullah later changed his stance and said that a section of the media was trying to quote him out of context, while he even wrote an article in a national daily on the same lines of restoration of statehood. BJP leaders recently said that statehood would be restored only when the last gun in Kashmir falls silent. Another BJP leader called the joint political declaration as “Gupkar Gang Declaration ‘’ and claimed that when the Election Commission announces poll dates in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, all these mainstream political leaders of Kashmir “will come out like frogs”. NC leaders said that in-person meetings with party leaders on Thursday and Friday are purely to get the feedback from the party cadre on how to proceed and indicated that after these interactions, there would be meetings held with the rest of political parties in Kashmir, including PDP and Congress. “We will be the leading party to fight for the restoration of Article 370 through all legal and democratic means and we are waiting for the release of Mehbooba Mufti to have an all-party meeting to chalk out our future strategy,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters.