SRINAGAR: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday expelled eight of its senior leaders, all former MLAs, for going against the party stand and engaging in parleys with government and visiting diplomats. A press release posted on PDP’s Twitter handle said the party’s disciplinary committee has expelled the eight leaders from the basic membership. The leaders expelled include Dilawar Mir, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Ch Qamar Hussain, Raja Manzoor, Javaid Baig, Abdul Majeed Padroo and Abdul Rahim Rather.
The expelled leaders have aligned with former PDP leader and minister Altaf Bukhari, who is trying to float a third front in the state. Some of the expelled PDP leaders were party of the delegation led by Bukhari that met Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu on Tuesday while some others, under the leadership of Bukhari, also met the 16 envoys of foreign countries who are currently touring J&K.
Surprisingly, some of the expelled leaders including Dilawar Mir, Rafiq Mir, Abdul Majeed Padroo and Abdul Rahim Rather, had been in detention after scrapping of Article 370 by the Centre and were released recently.
‘Political tourism’
The Congress said meaningful political activities should be initiated in J&K instead of “political tourism” and guided tour to envoys. “When our own MPs are not allowed to visit J&K, what purpose will the visit of envoys serve?” said Jairam Ramesh.