SRINAGAR: An influential Sikh group All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has decided against supporting any political party in the polls and field candidates from the community in all the elections in the Union Territory.
APSCC Chairman, Jagmohan Singh Raina told this newspaper that the Sikh community in the UT have decided not to back or support any political party in the electoral politics henceforth.
“In the past polls whether it be Assembly or parliamentary polls, we have supported different political parties with the hope that these parties would address the issues confronting the Sikh community in J&K. However, unfortunately, none of the political parties kept its promise and failed to give deserving attention to the community,” he said.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, APSCC had supported PDP and the party had mentioned some of the key demands in its poll manifesto also but those issues were ignored and pushed to the backburner once the party came to power, Singh said.
“We have been pleading for an extension of the National Commission for Minorities to J&K. Following the abrogation of Article 370 many central laws have been introduced in J&K but the National Minority Act has not been implemented for the reasons best known to the people at the helm,” he said.
Feeling let down by the political parties, Singh said they have decided now to field their candidates in the UT.
“We will be fielding our own candidates in the polls whether it be ULBs, panchayat, Assembly or Parliamentary polls. We also urge the majority community to support our candidate the way we have supported the candidates of the majority community in the past elections,” he said.
In order to make ground for community candidates in the electoral battle, the group would be launching a mass contact programme in the Valley.
“We will be launching the mass contact programme from north Kashmir’s Baramulla district within the next few days. The community members will visit every village in Kashmir to connect with the Sikh community,” APSCC chairman said. “We will also be launching this mass contact programme in the Jammu region”.
He said the group is identifying potential candidates for local body elections, which are scheduled to be held by the end of this year or early next year.