Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Friday asked the government to clarify its stand on the issue of adding 25 lakh non-locals in J&K’s assembly electoral rolls as the move has created apprehensions of demographic change.

In a statement, Lone said that the recent statement by officials of the Election Commission pertaining to allowing non-locals to vote in the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir has created a new set of apprehensions amongst the people of J&K and that the government of India must come out with “unvarnished truth” to allay their fears.

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“The statement of ECI officials has heightened the fears of demographic intervention and demographic change. We know the set of laws that prevail across the country but what matters here is not the application of the law but the intentions of those implementing the law”, Lone said.

He maintained that in the last three years, disempowerment of the inhabitants of J&K has become a continuous process and is achieved incrementally with unfailing frequency and per se this seems to be yet again an unholy addition.

“This is nothing short of a threat of disempowering whatever little vestigial empowerment that remains. The reality as it stares in our faces is that post August 5, 2019 there has been unabated disempowerment every passing day and there seems to be little evidence that those at the helm of disempowerment are even remotely fatigued. They make us feel like aliens in our own motherland. It is a typical case of the rulers and the ruled. We are the ruled commodities. The rulers are not from this place and have no stakes in the future of J&K. This is not just against the basic tenets and spirit of democracy but also defeats the whole purpose of provincialism, federalism and regional aspirations”, he added.

He further said that J&K has a history of “stolen elections” and these statements are ugly reminders of those stolen elections and also indicative of nursing intentions of stealing elections in the future.

“We hope that instead of cheerleading newly baked scares on a daily basis, the government recognises its failings and makes amends for the errors made in the past three years. The perception amongst the people is that the Central government is up to its old tricks”, he added.

While making a fervent appeal to the government at the Centre and the UT to allay the apprehensions of the people of J&K and unambiguously state their intentions, Lone maintained that unless the government comes forward with an explanation of their intentions, we see this as an advertent escalation.

“We appeal to the government to make public their version of events. Let reality be reflected as it exists”, he added.