National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday said the decision to form an alliance with the Congress for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections was not easy as the party had to sacrifice many seats where it had a strong chance of winning. Addressing a party function at the National Conference headquarters Nawa-e-Subh, Abdullah said the ongoing struggle to restore the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir was a collective fight.
He said, “This is not only our fight but the fight of the entire Jammu and Kashmir. If the wrong that has been done to us is to be corrected, it will not only benefit us but every resident of Jammu and Kashmir. We are fighting this collective battle for Jammu and Kashmir.” He said, “That is why we joined hands with Congress, it was not an easy decision for us because we had to sacrifice those seats where we used to think that only National Conference could give a tough challenge.”
He said, however, that an alliance with the Congress was necessary to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Abdullah said, “In many seats in the lower regions like Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri, Congress and we can together fight those forces, that is why we gave some seats from the National Conference’s account to the Congress here.” Abdullah also said that if the National Conference comes to power, it will remove the Public Safety Act (PSA) from Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have seen many problems – the PSA has been used indiscriminately. We have promised in our manifesto that if the NC forms the government, we will remove the PSA from Jammu and Kashmir so that there is no scope for its misuse,” he said. “We will also stop the arrest of youth,” he said.
