Opposition parties of Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday, decided to hold a peaceful protest here on 10 October against the “suspension” of the Constitution and rights of the people of the Union Territory (UT) by the BJP Government.

Leaders of various Opposition parties met here under the chairmanship of National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and unanimously decided to hold a peaceful protest against the “anti-people” policies of the BJP Government.

“The Constitution is suspended and the democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are under attack,” said Abdullah after a two-hour-long meeting.

Speaking to reporters, he said, “We all have decided to stage a peaceful protest on October 10 and are seeking necessary permission from the divisional commissioner.”

Among those who attended the meeting included PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, her party’s general secretary Amreek Singh Reen, Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Vikar Rasool Wani, its working president Raman Bhalla, CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami, Dogra Sadar Sabha chief Gulchain Singh Charak, Jammu and Kashmir Shiv Sena (UBT) president Manish Sahni,

Awami National Conference Senior Vice-President Muzaffar Shah, National Conference provincial president, Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta, party MP Hasnain Masoodi, Mission Statehood president Sunil Dimple and former MP Sheikh Abdul Rehman were also present in the meeting. Representatives of various other parties, including the CPI, Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the Internationalist Democratic Party also attended the meeting.

When asked why DPAP chief Ghulam Nabi Azad and Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari did not attend the meeting, Abdullah said these are “government’s parties”.

Abdullah charged the BJP government with deliberately delaying the assembly elections on the excuse of an “inconducive situation”, but when it comes to holding a G20 meeting in Srinagar they claim that the situation is peaceful. They first said that the elections would be held after the delimitation of constituencies and revision of voter lists, but were again delaying the polls although both exercises had been completed.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPI(M), who is the spokesman of the Opposition unity, said this is the first time that former chief ministers, MPs, ministers, MLAs and other leaders have assembled here to discuss the situation.

“We do not have any expectations from this government, but our hopes are pinned on the people of the country”, he added.

Mehbooba slammed the BJP Government for imposing an undeclared emergency by raiding the houses of journalists. Media persons of J&K were earlier targeted with UAPA but now this Act is now being misused against journalists across the country.