Srinagar, November 27 (Scoop News) – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the National Conference (NC) has been misusing their support of centre and its allies only to protect its power while making serious compromises on the vital interests of the state.
Addressing a public meeting at Kokernag today, the party President Mehbooba Mufti said “NC has always used the support of its allies, whether Congress or BJP, to dis-empower people of the state while the Abdullah family and its cohorts enjoy power.” MLA Ab Rehman Veeri, Rafi Ahmed Mir, MLC Nizamudin Khatana,and Zonal President Ab Rahim Rather were also present and spoke on this occasion.
Mehbooba said the NC ends all arguments by flaunting “centre’s support” to all its misdeeds. Whenever questions are raised about the problems faced by the people in NC rule, the ruling party traditionally uses “centres support” as if that was a solution for all problems like power, water or flagrant human rights violations, she said.
Referring to the current debate on AFSPA triggered by Omer Abdullah in the wake of Haji Yousuf’s death and exposure of corruption within the Abdullah family, Mehbooba said “It was only to deflect attention from the serious lapses in governance and rampant corruption under the present coalition government. She said the APSPA has to go sooner or later but Omer Abdullah’s diabolical suggestion to incorporate its essence into the local Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) amounts to introducing a virtual Marshall Law in the state on a permanent basis.”
“After making this offer of amending RPC to replace APSPA, the Abdullah’s can no more blame Delhi for erosion of states special status. It is they who primarily have been instrumental in erosion of autonomy of the state”, she added.
Mehbooba said though NC has been invoking “centre’s support” whenever it found itself on a back foot that it should have taken a leaf out of the previous PDP-Congress coalition which had ensured that benefits of tie-ups between regional and national party reached the people of the state.
She said things were turning around during the previous government on all fronts be it political, diplomatic or developmental. She said the security forces had been reigned in effectively and POTA was revoked without any noises being made about it but now the NC leaders are only indulging in drum beating which apparently is leading to permanent disempowerment of people and democratic institutions of the state. Apart from that the entire development process that had been set in motion with visible impacvt on ground has been almost frozen under the present dispensation.
She asked the people to be cautious about worst compromises being made by Omer Abdullah on their dignity and honour just to escape the fallout of Haji Yousuf’s death and stick to power by hook or crook. Mehbooba said last year’s trouble in Kashmir which resulted in the death of more than 120 young people, injuring thousands, criminal cases against minors and economic disruption was also pushed under the carpet by NC citing “Centre’s support”. She said this approach added to alienation among the people and denial of justice could worsen the situation even after the people of the state had overwhelmingly taken part in many elections after 2002 and given democracy full chance.
She said it is not the first time that NC is exploiting its alliance with a national party to stay in power and harm the interests of the state. Earlier when it was a partner of BJP and RSS in the NDA Government at centre and state, it handed seven most feasible power projects to the NHPC instead of getting any economic benefits for the state. On the contrary, she said, the party also sold out the resolution of restoration of autonomy that legislature had passed only to ensure that Omer Abdullah stay as Junior Minister in the Union cabinet. Omar Abdullah followed this up by handing over three more power projects to NHPC in the name of joint venture on most harmful terms for the state and entered into a tieup with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the cost of the state’e own premier institution the J&KBank delivering a severe blow to states financial autonomy.
Condemning the continuous use of force against unarmed civilians and press persons by Omer Abdullah government, Mehbooba said “The pictures of small teenage boys being handcuffed are heart rending”. She said no civilised society would tolerate such inhumane treatment of kids who should have been inspired to be in middle or primary schools. It was unfortunate that this government is only using sheer force to deal with any situation that has exposed all the sections of the society to violence and resultant alienation, she said.