Centre likely to impose Kashmir-centric political dispensation in J&K

Political advisory council involving Apni Party � a ministry through backdoor?

By: Sameer Bhasin

Jammu, 11 Aug 2020

Throwing all promises, on providing greater or equitable power to Jammu region, to winds the BJP led government at the centre is planning to impose upon the people of J&K a Kashmir-centric political dispensation, most likely involving the leaders from a newly carved out political outfit �Apni Party�. The top leadership of the party comprises of leaders from the Valley. A few Jammu based leaders are only among the lower rung.
According to the sources a political advisory council is likely to be formed in Jammu and Kashmir union territory to be headed by Altaf Bukhari, the Apni Party chief and will have 10 to 12 senior leaders of the party as its members. The council will have ministerial powers to certain extent, it has been learned.
According to the sources, the proposal to provide a political advisor council as headed by Bukhari was under consideration even before Manoj Sinha took over as new Lt-Gen of J&K a few days back. However, the sae could not be implemented during GC Murmu�s tenure because of his bureaucratic way of functioning.
However, now again, the sources say, the centre is exploring a possibility of setting up a political advisory council in J&K to assist the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in governing Jammu and Kashmir.
The idea has been revived with the arrival of Manoj Sinha as successor of Murmu. The new L G who took over on August 7 is a politician of many seasons He knows the importance of the connectivity with the people through political mechanism.
The political observers here believe that the Centre had sent him to revive the political activities in J&K.
Sources said that though an informal draft of the political advisory council shows representatives of all political parties, BJP, Apni Party, Congress and National Conference as the council members, yet it is a common knowledge in political circles that the same would be headed by Bukhari, a Kashmir centric leaders and will also have Zulfikar Chowdary, Usman Majid, Sunil Sharma and Vijay Bakaya as its other members. The council will have all ministerial powers accept Home affairs. Even various district development boards too may get their new heads from among the members and leaders of the JKAP (Jammu Kashmir Apni Party), the political observers apprehend.