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| NC crown returns from third to second generation | | Ready to put behind autonomy baggage Mujahid Manzil to resume pristine glory | | ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Jammu/Srinagar, Jan 13: It was a quite affair at Nawa-e-Subh Complex, the Srinagar headquarters of National Conference where the working committee –comprising few legislators and other party leaders, mostly those who lost the recent assembly elections –gathered for a ‘change of guard’ and the patron Dr Farooq Abdullah was named as president of over 70-year old party which functioned in Jammu and Kashmir as a movement for over half of the past century.
The organizational crown simply returned from third generation Abdullah to the second generation Abdullah who had earlier inherited the mantle from his father in 1981 and donned it for two decades.
While the outgoing president of the National Conference, who is also the Chief Minister, and his ministerial colleagues kept their official engagements it was the ‘working committee’, unanimously passed the proposal to name the septuagenarian Dr Abdullah as party’s new president replacing son Omar. There was no mandate session or broad deliberations as former MLA Sharief-ud-Din Shariq proposed name, another former MLA Dr Mehbooba Baig seconded and it was announced that Dr Abdullah is new president of the party. Besides longest serving General Secretary of any political party, Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, MLA Sakina Ittoo and MP Abdul Rashid Shaheen also attended the meeting.
Farooq was first ‘elected’ to the post of President of National Conference in 1981 when his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, stepped down as head of the organization. 20 years later, in 2001 he handed over the party crown to son Omar Abdullah who recently rose to the position of Chief Minister –third in the family.
Talking to reporters, Farooq said he took over as party chief to "relieve" his chief minister-son Omar Abdullah from additional responsibilities of party work.
"Omar has the gigantic task of taking Jammu and Kashmir on the road to development and progress. As such, it was imperative to relieve him of responsibilities relating to party work," Farooq said.
He said the organisational elections of the party will be held shortly. Elections for district presidents will be held soon in a bid to strengthen the organisation at the grass roots level, he added.
"Wherever our party has failed in the recent assembly elections, we have to know the reasons to prepare ourselves for the parliamentary elections," Abdullah said.
He said the party intends to restore the headquarters of the party, Mujahid Manzil, in interior city which was shunned by the party in the wake of eruption of militancy over two decades ago.
"We will restore the pristine glory of the Mujahid Manzil and use it as our party headquarters as the sentiments of the people are attached to it," he said adding the party proposes to revive the old tradition of "meeting the people on each Friday" to know their problems and try to mitigate them.
Mujahid Manzil, the fortress of mujahideen, had served as the hotbed of Kashmiri politics during the freedom movement. It also remained the hub of Kashmiri politics during National Conference's struggle against Dogra autocracy and its subsequent political activities between 1953 to 1990.
Located in downtown Srinagar, the erstwhile NC headquarters was set ablaze in 1990 by suspected militants, forcing the party to shift its main office to the high security Nawai Subah complex in the city.
Farooq said the NC-Congress coalition government's priority is to tackle the growing unemployment and speed up development and promote tourism.
To a question about trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (POK) through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, the former chief minister said such trade would be further strengthened and the ultimate aim was to have trade with Central Asian countries.
He said there was no possibility of war between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack since "war is not going to address the problem. The issue could be resolved through dialogue."
Terming the Kashmir issue as an "unhealed wound", Farooq said the people of Kashmir have faced a lot of misery over the past six decades.
"We will work for harmonious relations between India and Pakistan so that the issue is resolved through dialogue," he said.
He said as far as his party is concerned, the restoration of autonomy was the best solution to the Kashmir problem. However, he said his party will endorse any other better solution if it meets the wishes and aspirations of the people.
"We believe autonomy is the only solution but if there is a better solution acceptable to the people, the party will be first to endorse it," he said. Farooq maintained the issue could be solved only when "Kashmiris' voice is heard".
"If a lasting solution is to be found, then talks should be held with all groups without which the whole exercise is futile," he said. He said a solution is unthinkable without Hurriyat's participation. |
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