STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: National Conference on Saturday pitched for intra-state dialogue between the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to preserve singular entity of the State and also to bridge the fault-lines being created by divisive forces on the basis of region and religion.
“The dialogue should be wide ranging; between the three regions and within the regions and their sub-regions; between religious and ethnic groups and between different shades of opinion”, Provincial President Devender Singh Rana said while leading the party functionaries in paying homage to Sheikh Nazir Ahmed at a function held at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here this afternoon.
He said intra-regional broad-based dialogue has assumed added significance in the wake of mistrust being created by vested interests over a period of time in the recent past, which is not in consonance of the idea of Jammu and Kashmir.
“A collective effort is needed to find out the genesis of fault-lines and suggesting corrective measures to revive and sustain the glorious ethos for which the State was known the world over”, he added.
However, expressing concern over machinations of polarising elements, who were hell bent upon sowing the seeds of mistrust and hate, the Provincial President exhorted the people in general and National Conference cadre in particular to shoulder their responsibilities of preserving the rich multi cultural, multi regional, and multi ethnic ethos of the State.
He said idea of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be bartered at the hands of any consideration, political, regional, ethnic or otherwise because if the composite pluralistic character of the State is not preserved, it will not only defeat the idea of Jammu and Kashmir but foil the idea of India as well.
“In a scenario where polarising agents are taking central stage, the dialogue between the opinion makers of the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions is crucially important”, Rana said, lamenting that the enemies of the people of Jammu and Kashmir within and outside have joined hands to inflict scars on the State’s uniqueness, its glorious traditions and its great ethos for furthering their political ends. “This has become possible by nurturing secularism and strengthening bonds of brotherhood between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists besides satiating the urges and aspirations of the three distinct regions and their sub-regions”, he added.
The Provincial President said the politics of Jammu and Kashmir is subtly being diverted towards hate and mistrust by creating divide between regions and religions. He said the sinister developments of the recent past stand testimony to the fact that there is definite design to create wedge between the people of various faiths and regions in the state.
Former Minister and Sr State President Surjeet Singh Slathia recalled the political wisdom of Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, saying he worked tirelessly for strengthening the party, especially at grass roots level and making it. He said Nazir Sahib served the State and its people selflessly, irrespective of caste, creed or colour.
Among those present on the occasion included Chairman SC/OBC Cell Babu Ram Pal, Provincial President NC Women Wing Satwant Kour Dogra, Provincial Secretary Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, former legislators Bimla Luthra, Qazi Jalal-ud-Din, Haji Mohammed Hussain, Deepender Kour besides Choudhry Haroon, G.S Sasan, Jugal Mahajan, Pradeep Bali, S.S Bunty, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Abdul Gani Teli, Vijay Lochan, Dilshad Malik, Rashida Begum, K D Singh, Darshan Singh, Reyaz Malik, Ashok Dogra, Komal Manhas, Sandeep Singh, Iftikhar Ahmed, Somraj Taroch and Choudhry Rehmat.
