Kargil, October 09, 2023 (PPI-OT): The National Conference and Congress alliance has termed the Kargil Hill Council poll results as a referendum against the Indian government’s illegal decision of scrapping the special status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and splitting it into two union territories on August 5, 2019.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the NC and the Congress, who had announced a pre-poll alliance, together won 22 of 26 seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil elections, the results of which were declared on Sunday. The BJP and independents won two each. The election was the first poll to be held after Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
NC district president, Kargil, Hanifa Jan said what New Delhi did in August 2019 was totally wrong, it was a betrayal with the people of Kargil, adding the govt took the decision without consulting them, and so, this result is a total referendum against those decisions. Jan further said, “Our first demand is the restoration of the democratic system in Ladakh. It is up to the government how they will do that whether they will give a full-fledged statehood to Ladakh, and if they cannot do that, then restore our position (with IIOJK)”. The people of Kargil want to get out of the bureaucratic slavery under the LG BD Mishra administration.
“The alliance won 22 seats, two were won by independents who are ideologically inclined towards us. So, we won 24 seats effectively, and the whole district has spoken against the decisions taken in August 2019 and snatching of democracy from us and pushing us into the bureaucratic system,” he added.
Asked about the future prospects of the alliance, the NC leader said the coalition was not for the council only, but to keep whole Kargil united. “This alliance will be there for the Parliament elections as well. We want a secular candidate to contest the elections and win, because the current MP (Jamyang Tsering Namgyal) is a total communal person who is only parroting the agenda of the BJP-RSS and is doing nothing for the people of Ladakh,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Issa Ali Shah said the people of Kargil have always been against the decision of abrogation of Article 370 and the results signified that. He said, “There is no role of the BJP in Kargil. People here are against the decision of the August 2019. The common people do not want separation. We want to be together with Jammu-Kashmir”.
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