Three Kashmir-based political parties — Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC), People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and the recently formed Justice and Development Front (JDF) — on Monday announced the formation of People’s Alliance for Change (PAC).Describing the PAC as an alternative platform representing the oppressed people of the region, they said it will strive for restoration of statehood, Article 370 and 35 (A) with justice and dignity.

JKPC president Sajad Gani Lone announced the formation of the PAC at his official residence in the presence of PDF president Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, JDF president Shamim Ahmad Thokar and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil. The JDF was formed by select members of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami who also unsuccessfully fought the recent assembly election in J&K.

“We have experienced pain and not inflicted it. This alliance addresses the barrenness of the political landscape of J&K and provides an alternative electoral platform to the people,” Lone said at a presser in Srinagar. The leaders signed a joint “declaration of change” which they said would be the roadmap for the alliance.The JKPC chief said there had been no closure to the decades of pain “because those who inflicted it still rule”. “That must end. The real victims must now represent the pain they carry,” he asserted.