STATE TIMES NEWS
POONCH: Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday decried the attempts being made to create a wedge between Gujjars and Paharis for votes and exhorted the people not to fall prey to such machinations.
“These so-called well wishers of Gujjars and Paharis do not want these communities to live with peace as they were living together here for decades”, Azad said while addressing a public rally at Surankote, after an impressive road show.
Azad is currently on the four-day visit of Poonch and Rajouri districts.
He also urged people not to give any heed to the propaganda of such people and instead live peacefully and maintain unity among themselves. He urged them to vote sagaciously during the democratic exercise and isolate those seeking the mandate in the name of religion and by making false promises.
“Vote on merits should be the imperative”, the former Chief Minister said, adding that a sagacious decision would decide their future with public spirited people getting elected.
Azad urged the government not to evict people from lands on which they were living from decades as they have no place to live. He said instead of providing land to people government is evicting people from lands. He said with the passage of time land availability has decreased to half due to five-fold increase in the population from 1947.
“It’s the government which has to provide land to people instead of making them homeless”, he maintained. He also urged the government to take effective measures for mitigating the sufferings of the people.
Azad hailed the people of Rajouri-Poonch for maintaining a close coordination with army in fighting terrorism. From 1947 till date, he said the brave people have worked with army during many wars of notwithstanding the losses they suffered.
Prominent among those present during the public meeting included Ch Akram Ex MLA , Riyaz Mir Member DDC, Jahangir Mir, Ex MLC and others.