Jammu And Kashmir: Altaf Bukhari To Launch 'Aapki Party' With Expelled PDP Leaders

Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Altaf Bukhari is set to announce a new political outfit named Aapki Party in the coming days. Making an appeal to the people from all walks of life to come forward and to join the party, Bukhari said, "It is going to be pan J-K party,” Bukhari said. "It will have a mix of experienced politicians and new entrants to politics."

"A five-member team has been constituted to draft the constitution of the party. The announcement will be made in Srinagar in the next few days,” Bukhari told news agency IANS. He said the party won’t just consist of former legislators and ministers but will include new faces as well.

Bukhari was the first mainstream politician in Kashmir who said publicly to move beyond the abrogation of Article 370. Altaf Bhukhari was expelled by the PDP last month after he along with his party colleagues met a delegation of foreign envoys and diplomats in Srinagar.

Altaf Bhukhari had also praised the Modi government for ensuring no loss of life in the Kashmir Valley after the revocation of Article 370 and 35A in August. "After the abrogation of Article 370 there has been no bloodshed, no killings happened. The credit goes both to the people and government," Bukhari had said.

Bukhari was expelled along with PDP leaders: Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Iqbal, Abdul Majeed Padroo, Raja Manzoor Khan, Javaid Hussain Baig, Qamar Hussain, Abdul Rahim Rather besides Shah Mohammad Tantray. Reports suggest that these leaders are likely to be part of Altaf Bukhari’s party.

Shah Faesal booked under PSA

IAS officer and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement leader Shah Faesal was booked under the tough Public Safety Act on Saturday.

Faesal is the latest Kashmiri leader who has been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act. Apart from Shah Faesal, other leaders who have been booked under PSA are: Omar Abdullah, his father Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ali Mohammed Sagar, Naeem Akhtar, Sartaj Madani and Hilal Lone. Under the tough regulations of the Public Safety Act, the authorities can detain a person for up to three months without any trail along with multiple extensions.

Shah Faesal, who was the 2010 topper of the Indian Administrative Services exams, had quit his job to float a political party - Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement last year. After the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370, Shah Faesal was detained at the Delhi Airport on August 14 and brought back to Srinagar. The official had said that Faesal was fleeing to London.

Faesal had criticised the "unprecedented" lock-down in the Valley with its eight million population "incarcerated" like never before post the removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, provided under Article 370. He was among the last political leaders who were placed under house arrest.