STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Apni Party President, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, on Saturday, said that “Jammu and Kashmir’s two political families, the Abdullahs and the Muftis, have severely damaged the interests of the people over the years and decades.”
He asserted that “these families have subjected the people of J&K to prolonged miseries and indignity in pursuit of their own political ambitions.”
Bukhari was addressing a public rally at Kokernag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Apni Party president urged people to vote for Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, the party’s candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in the Rajouri-Anantnag constituency, which is scheduled for voting on May 25.
Taking a dig at the traditional parties, especially the NC and PDP, Bukhari blamed them for harming the interests of the people over the years.
He said, “The conventional parties, especially the family-based ones, have been damaging the interests of J&K people for their own political gains. These parties have been misleading people through deceptive narratives, fake promises, and emotional sloganeering solely to attain power for themselves. They are responsible for the miseries we have faced over the past seven decades.”
Recalling his association with the PDP, Bukhari said, “I supported the late founding leader of the PDP because he used to say that he hated dynastic rule, and he claimed to be against the family rule of the Abdullahs.
However, to our utter shock, we saw him handing over the party to his own daughter as he was passing away.
He, too, ensured his family would rule here after his death. Now his daughter is preparing her own daughter to take over the legacy.
Are the people of Jammu and Kashmir subject to these political families?”
Bukhari hoped that people would vote out the leaders of the PDP and NC in the ongoing parliamentary elections.
“It seems that two former chief ministers would face defeat in two constituencies, Baramulla and Rajouri-Anantnag, in these elections. People will teach them a lesson through the power of their vote,” he said.
Urging people to vote for Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, the Apni Party candidate in the Rajouri-Anantnag constituency, he said, “I request that you give Zaffar a chance to serve you. I assure you that he will effectively represent your sentiments in Parliament.”