Ex-J&K minister Altaf Bukhari floats new political outfit

In a bid to create an alternative regional outfit in the Union territory, former J&K Finance Minister Altaf Bukhari on Sunday announced a new political party, Jammu Kashmir Apni Party, inducting known faces from other groups especially the PDP.

The new party's core agenda would be the restoration Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and its residents' domicile rights on land and jobs, said Bukhari, who was elected J-KAP's president.

Bukhari, who represented the city's Amirakadal constituency in the last assembly of the erstwhile state, told reporters at a press conference at his residence here that his party would be different from other parties as it was not floated by families an apparent reference to the National Conference and PDP.

Several former ministers and legislators joined the new outfit and were seen with Bukhari at the presser.

The prominent faces included former minister and PDP founding member Ghulam Hassan Mir, former minister and PDP general secretary Dilawar Mir and former ministers Chowdhary Zulfiqar Ahmad, Mohammad Ahsraf Mir, Abdul Majeed Paddar, Aijaz Ahmad Khan and Usman Majeed besides former chief secretary and ex-NC MLC Vijay Bakaya.

Bukhari said the party was an outfit "of the commoners, by the commoners and for the commoners".

We have resolved to create a viable, political platform that functions in accordance with the wishes of people and where the people are the real stakeholders of the political process, he said, naming the political party as Jammu Kashmir Apni Party (J-KAP).