Full empowerment of panchayats and local bodies needed: AJKPC

All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) today said that the only solution that can strengthen democracy and bring political stability in the state is full empowerment of panchayats and local bodies.
"The only solution that can strengthen democracy and bring political stability in the state is full empowerment of panchayats and and local bodies in the state which is enshrined only in the 73rd and 74th amendment of the Indian Constitution that calls for separate election and finance commission," AJKPC president Anil Sharma said today.
He said that the state leadership should respect the democratic values and not play with the autonomy of the institutions.

Sharma also decried the decision of the state government of holding indirect elections of the sarpanches (village heads) in the state.