Jammu And Kashmir: People’s Alliance For Gupkar Declaration

Jammu and Kashmir: People of Kashmir asking – where is the PAGD, which claims to be a beneficiary of Jammu and Kashmir.

Amid speculation that J&K would be re-formed after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, people are now asking where is the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).

No one is worried about its future, but takes a dig at the opportunism of its leaders, asking in which cave the PAGD is lost.

Parties like National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, CPI(M), Awami National Conference, which till yesterday talked about sacrificing everything for the success of its agenda, are now seen sacrificing it for themselves.

PAGD was launched on 4 August 2019 in an all-party meeting held at the residence of former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah.

Participating in this, all Kashmir-centric parties, including Mehbooba Mufti, had announced to take all possible steps to maintain the unique identity of Jammu and Kashmir. 

This was called the Gupkar Declaration. After this, with the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act in Parliament on August 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was fully merged with India.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the system of two mark-two legislation was abolished and Jammu and Kashmir was fully incorporated into the national mainstream.

After this, on 20 October 2020, after discussions with PDP President Mehbooba, Farooq Abdullah formed PAGD along with CPI(M), People’s Conference and People’s Movement and Awami National Conference.

Purpose- It was told to restore the constitutional status in Jammu and Kashmir before August 5, 2019. The command of PAGD was handed over to Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba became the Vice President.

Sajjad Gani Lone was made the principal spokesperson.

Common Kashmiris had expressed apprehension about PAGD that whoever is involved in it has created a safe way to prove its relevance once again in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir by exploiting the public sentiments.

PAGD first opposed the DDC elections and then joined them. In the election, PAGD had fielded its candidates together, despite that PAGD was able to make its chairman in only four districts.

The PAGD has disappeared somewhere after the DDC elections. Sajjad Gani Lone of the People’s Conference publicly broke away from it.

PDP President Mehbooba is also not making any public statement regarding this, but she has also been avoiding questions on PAGD.

The National Conference, which had put the PAGD on hold in December itself, met every time during the last three months, none of the leaders made any mention of it and the constitutional position before August 5, 2019.

The biggest thing is that the National Conference which was opposing the delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir till yesterday, has now agreed to be a part of it. Although she kept boycotting it.

NC wants to forge better relations with the Centre: Kashmir affairs expert Asif Qureshi said that the National Conference has been trying to improve its relations with the Center for some time now.

The National Conference is currently feeling completely sidelined in the politics of Kashmir.

He said that NC’s saying that it is considering to engage in the process of delimitation shows that it wants to get rid of PAGD and this is the situation when Dr. Farooq Abdullah is its president.

Now no one mentions PAGD: Senior journalist Ahmed Ali Fayaz said that no one in Kashmir mentions PAGD.

People were questioning this from day one. Now the cat is completely out of the bag. There is a fight for supremacy among all the constituents in it and none of them wants to be out of power for long.

Sajjad Gani Lone has already been sidelined. NC is different without speaking, it does not announce it because Dr. Farooq Abdullah is its president.

Mehbooba Mufti’s entire attention is currently focused on saving her life from ED and NIA. She is also not showing much interest in PAGD now.

Alliance of political opportunism: Rameez Makhdoomi, a Kashmir affairs expert and author, said that PAGD is in a way a nexus of political opportunism.

So here the common Kashmiri takes a dig at its leaders and asks in which cave it is hidden. There has not been a single meeting between the leaders of PAGD for the last six months.