JAMMU, FEBRUARY 22: Former minister and prominent politician from Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Tuesday resigned from National Conference alleging that the party high command was insisting him to give up the ongoing struggle seeking scheduled tribe status for Pahari people living in Pir Panjal region.
Pointing out that he has been a party loyalist who stood by it through thick and thin, Bukhari in a brief resignation letter addressed to NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah, wrote that “your constant insistence on me foregoing the Pahari cause has made this relationship untenable for me’’. Tendering his resignation from primary membership of the party, he wished Dr Abdullah well and thanked him for everything.
A two time MLA, Bukhari had been the main face of National Conference in Poonch district’s Surankote area since 1996 and he was elected twice as MLA from there. He also served as a minister in NC government and vice chairman of the Pahari Board.
Considered close to Abdullahs, he said that the NC leadership started doubting his integrity as he had met some BJP leader to espouse the cause of paharis in the recent past. “Today when I met Dr Farooq Abdullah, he told me that I had joined the BJP,’’ he added.
