Srinagar, Mar 16 : Senior Congress leader and former member of parliament from Srinagar parliamentary constituency Tariq Hammed Karra said despite being offered to contest the parliament by-polls he choose not fight as it would have been unethical and a mockery of his resignation by going to the same parliament which had “failed to stop the barrage of atrocities committed” on the people of Kashmir during 2016 unrest.
“During my discussions with the congress president and Congress vice president before joining the party, both the leaders had offered me to contest from any of the two constituencies, Srinagar or Anantnag but I choose not to do so”, Karra said
“My resignation from parliament was issue based and according to call of my conscience. Since I had resigned from parliament under protest against the issues like unabated brutalities unleashed by the present government like killing of civilian youth, blinding hundreds of young boys and girls, by way of using pellet guns, maiming of Kashmiris in general, arresting and slapping PSA on thousands of young school going boys, damaging of property and agricultural and horticultural harvest worth billions of rupees and those factors still persist on ground. It would be totally unethical and mockery of my resignation to seek mandate for the same forum (Parliament) which has failed to address the grievances of my people in Kashmir”, he said.
Karra who had successfully contested the 2014 parliament elections against Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that he would fully support the candidates in combination of parties as he was ready to make smaller maneuvers for bigger fight against fascist and Nazi like forces.
National Conference and Congress on Wednesday announced to contest parliament by-polls on seat sharing arrangement. While NC president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah will contest from Srinagar, Congress president, G A Mir, has been fielded from Anantnag parliament seats. The polling in Srinagar and Anantnag is slated for April 9 and 12 respectively.
“I will fully support both the candidates on the two parliament seats. My support to Dr. Farooq Abdullah will be issue based. I will be fighting the elections against RSS. PDP-RSS alliance is an indigestible anathema to the Muslims of J&K State. PDP is a horse and RSS is a pillion in total control. I have to stop both horse and the pillion from religious, constitutional, cultural and administrative ingressions by this unholy combination in my State,” he said when asked if he would support Dr. Abdullah against whom he had contested and won 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“My fight is a bigger fight on a larger canvas and one of them is to liberate Kashmir Valley, Chenab and Pir Panchal areas from the fascist forces and its collaborators and facilitators, which is PDP. And in doing so for the purposes of attaining larger gains for the people of my State, I would not hesitate to make smaller maneuvers. Winston Churchill has said ‘don’t hesitate to go two steps backwards for moving four steps forwards’”, Karra said.
Karra, who resigned as PDP MP last year amid uprising, against the “Nazi-type brutalities of PDP-RSS government” took potshots on chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for congratulating BJP on UP election win.
“By congratulating Narendra Modi for BJP’s victory in UP, the CM has put a stamp of her personal and her party’s endorsement for the fascist agenda of RSS. Mr. Narendra Modi for his party’s electoral gains went so low to evoke communal passions and his disrespect and disregard for Muslims when he used the words like Qabristan and Shamshan Ghat to mobilize Hindus against secular forces,” he said.
“I am first a proud Muslim, then a proud Kashmiri, then anything else. So it is my religious duty to stand in between my people and the forces who are against Islam. I cannot give RSS a cake walk and leave open field for them to let loose their ingression, be it political, economical, religious or cultural in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. I will fight to give protection to my people (Muslims) of Jammu and Kashmir till my last breath,” Karra said.
Will support parties who are against RSS-PDP menace :Karra’
