Jammu, Feb 19: Jammu and Kashmir has no peace but just “graveyard silence”, Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari said Saturday accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of selling J&K’s resources to outsiders.
“People in J&K are worried as (government) policies are making their lives miserable. The youth are suffering and are being driven towards taking arms or drugs,” Bukhari, a former minister, told reporters here.
Flanked by senior party colleagues and former ministers including Ghulam Hassan Mir, Usman Majid, and Dilawar Mir, the Apni Party president said over 10 lakh people are directly or indirectly linked to the mining sector but leases were granted to contractors from outside.
“These are our resources and should have been reserved for the people of J&K. When there will be a popular government, all of them have to wind up and go from here,” he said.
Asked about his opinion of the situation in Kashmir, he said that considering different aspects one could say that it was not a peaceful situation, but graveyard silence prevails there.
“There is a need for restoration of political set up at the earliest to provide relief to the people. Our traders are suffering and people are worried,” he said.
He said not militancy but an army of youngsters who need to be engaged was a big challenge.
“We are only driving them towards frustration and they are picking up guns or resorting to drugs,” Bukhari said.
On the ongoing Hijab controversy, he said, “India is secular, a word which is embedded in the preamble of the constitution. We hope we are living in a secular country.”