Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), a political party, led by former PDP leader and two-time minister Altaf Bukhari will be launched in Srinagar on Sunday.
Bukhari who hails from Sopore in Baramulla is a prominent businessman and also has connections with some separatist leaders in Kashmir. He has been working behind the scenes to cobble up a new political formation in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
The former finance and PWD minister won the last assembly elections from Amira Kadal by defeating NC’s Nasir Aslam Wani in 2014. He was among a few political leaders who met the far right-wing EU parliamentarians for lunch in Delhi in October before their trip to Kashmir. He has made no bones of his contacts with the Centre and said he is a successful businessman and a politician and had nothing to hide.
The launch of JKAP is the first major political activity happening in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on August 5, 2019, by the BJP government.
The Centre has been desperate to fill the political vacuum in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370.
The launch of the new political party is happening at a time when three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir—Farooq Abdullah, his son, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti—continue to be in detention since August last year.
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Prominent politicians who are likely to part of JKAP include former PDP leader and deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussian Baig, Ghulam Hassan Mir (former independent MLA), former PDP leaders Javed Hussain Beg, Dilawar Mir, Noor Mohammed, Zaffar Manhas, Abdul Majid Paddar, Abdul Rahim Rather and former MLA and BJP leader Gagan Bhagat from RS Pura.
Sources said the party will be first launched in Srinagar followed by another function in Jammu. Others who have decided to join the party are former Congress MLA and minister Usman Majeed; former minister and district Congress president for Samba, Manjit Singh and district Jammu urban president Vikram Malhotra, who was the Congress candidate from Jammu East in 2014 Assembly elections. Two more Congress leaders from Jammu region—one of them a former minister and another former MLA from Reasi are likely to join the party shortly. Former J&K chief secretary and NC member Vijay Bakaya is also joining JKAP.
Bukhari has demanded the Centre must ensure protection for the right to own land and jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and release all political prisoners including the three former chief ministers and lift curbs on communication. He has denied that JKAP aims to replace the traditional political setup in Kashmir based on the Abdullahs and the Muftis.“My aim is to help my people to provide some succour to them,’’ he said. “ If anybody has better plan for the people, we will support it.”
Despite Bukhari's plainspeak about the need to move beyond Article 370, doubts have been cast on the formation of JKAP including leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad calling the new political setup as proxies of the BJP.