Apni Party holds protest for statehood restoration, Assembly election in J-K

Jammu, March 1

The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party on Friday held a protest in Samba district, demanding the immediate restoration of statehood and a democratically elected government in the Union territory.

The party’s provincial president S Manjit Singh led the protest rally at Vijaypur on the Jammu-Pathankot highway with participants chanting slogans and holding placards in support of their demands.

“We have organised this symbolic protest to press for immediate restoration of statehood and holding of assembly, panchayat and municipal elections,” Singh, a former Jammu and Kashmir minister, told reporters.

He accused the ruling BJP at the Centre of humiliating the people of Jammu and Kashmir by downgrading the erstwhile state into a Union territory in August 2019.

“They are only making promises about the restoration of statehood and holding of assembly polls but have not shown any interest in this regard. They are delaying polls… deliberately to run the administration without caring about the sufferings of the people,” Singh alleged.

He said the protest rally was also in support of farmers and against the Lieutenant Governor-led administration for forcibly evicting people on the pretext of retrieving state land.