Indian Parliament Attack convict Afzal Guru’s brother, Ajaz Guru, who is contesting as an independent candidate from the Sopore constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, said on Monday that there has been no notable development in the area for the last 40 years.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, he said, “I am 58 years old, and I have not seen any development in Kashmir," referring to the lack of infrastructure, poor electricity supplies, and unemployment issues.
On the parties contesting the elections, he said, “For the past 20 days, they have been saying that they will fix the Kashmir issue, while they had 70 years to do the same, but they did nothing.”
Ajaz is the brother of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was later hanged in connection with the 2001 attack.
In a related development, Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party and Jamaat-e-Islami have forged a pre-poll alliance in a bid to boost their chances in the upcoming elections.
Before this, on Sunday Lok Sabha member and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief Engineer Rashid said that “the main aim of the alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) “is to raise the voice of Kashmiris.”
He said members of the alliance would “fight for the solution to the issue of Kashmir... We just want to support candidates of Jamaat-e-Islami,” Rashid said.
Similarly, there is a pre-poll alliance between the Congress and the National Conference; under the agreed terms, NC will contest 51 of 90 seats and Congress will fight 32; there is a friendly battle on five seats, and a few seats have been awarded to smaller parties.
Meanwhile, the BJP has also hinted at forming an alliance in case the party fails to secure minimum seats to form the government.
While the scenario post-delimitation exercise has changed the electoral dynamics of the region, a coalition government does seem to be a possibility.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled to be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1. The counting will take place on October 8.
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