New Delhi: After keeping its distance from all discussion of the electoral process in the Jammu and Kashmir, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has finally relented.
A short while earlier, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said her party will participate and contest in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The Election Commission has scheduled an unprecedented seven phased poll in the state, from November 17 to December 24.
Most parties in the state including the National Conference had agreed to participate, while the PDP and the separatist parties had decided to boycott the process.
The PDP has all along maintained that the time was not ripe for polls in the state that has witnessed violent clashes over the Amarnath land controversy as well as protests by separatists in recent months.
"There is insecurity among the people. The situation is like it was in 2002 - people are getting beaten up, there is unrest. Other parties who follow repressive policies would have taken advantage of our poll boycott and Kashmir would have gone back to the way it was before 2002. We don't want that. We want to be a part of the people's aspirations at this point of time," Mehbooba Mufti said.
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