On 15 September, Peoples Democratic Party MP Tariq Hamid Karra withdrew his membership from the party in Srinagar, and also resigned from the Lok Sabha.
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Karra told reporters here that he “was feeling suffocated by the alliance” and was resigning to “protest against the brutalities on civilian protesters and the PDP’s sell out to the BJP”. “But today, in the present tragic circumstances, (PDP) made a U-turn and treated its subjects much worst than the Nazi forces. My conscience can not take it any longer”, Mr. Karra said.
Karra said he is leaving it to the conscience of all other MPs, MLAs and MLCs of his party to decide whether they would like to side with the helpless people or let this bloodshed continue “perpetuated by RSS-drived BJP and facilitated by the PDP”.
He had always opposed the idea of the party teaming up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form an alliance after a fractured mandate in the 2015 assembly polls. Karra had made his dissent known earlier also.
Karra blamed the alliance between the PDP and the BJP for the current Kashmir unrest. I was even mocked.
“I was forcefully consistent on it so that PDP buffer character would be saved which had blood and sweat of thousands of dedicated and selfless workers in it”, Mr. Karra said defending his decision to resign more than two months of unrest, which almost claimed scores of lives and left thousand others injured. Eighty people have died and over 10,000 injured in clashes with security forces in the valley since July 9, after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
“What happened to the promises like self-rule?” Why was the PDP protesting against similar killings during the previous government? “The PDP had been protesting against everything that is happening now”.
Karra is considered as a strong leader in Srinagar region and had defeated National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah in 2014 general elections. Muzaffar Baig was elected from Kupwara-Baramulla and party president Mehbooba Mufti won Anantnag-Pulwama. He had unsuccessfully contested against Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in by-elections this year from Anantnag constituency.
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“I was forcefully consistent on it so that PDP buffer character would be saved which had blood and sweat of thousands of dedicated and selfless workers in it”, Karra said defending his decision to resign after 69-days of unrest in Kashmir in which almost 80 people have been killed and thousand others have been injured.
