Jammu, September 20,:-The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) leadership, has, for the time being, postponed its exercise on selecting candidates for different Assembly constituencies. It has deferred its pre-poll campaign because it is still waiting for the response from the Election Commission and the Central Government to its plea on the postponement of the election.
"we await response from the Election Commission and the Government of India as we have already conveyed to them the current security scenario was not at all conducive for free and fair poll,"said a senior leader. He said it was strange that both the Commission and the centre were yet to take a decision when they know it well that no party can carry out pre-poll campaign.
He said "if the elections were held even by the middle of December the polling percentage was bound to be very poor." He added "it would be an election without a campaign which could be a mockery of the poll process."
Welcoming the weekly running of Poonch-Rawalakote and Srinagar-Muzafarabad bus services, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) he said the next logical step should be free cross-LoC movement of people and goods through these routes.
PDP leader said the time has come to dismantle all the intra and inter-state geographical barriers in and around Jammu & Kashmir and allow its people a respite from the mentality of siege. He said not only should various regions and sub-regions of the State get connected through the traditional routes including Mughal Road, Simthan Pass and Poonch-Hajipeer-Uri road, but its cross-LoC connectivity with the rest of the world must also be fully restored to the pre-partition era. "Such measures have now become inevitable," he said and added that the political aspect of the Kashmir problem will be much easier to resolve, if due economic space for a potentially rich place like Jammu & Kashmir.