NC pushes people out of democratic system for its power: Mehbooba

Anantnag/Srinagar,January 19 (Scoop News) –

Peoples Democratic Party president Maehbooba Mufti said that historically the NC leadership had been able only to help replace the autocratic rule of Maharaja by its own dynastic succession.

Addressing a large public gathering held in Anantnag as part of party’s state wide demonstrations she said ruling party was interested only in holding the state as a personal estate of a family and for that it had bartered away everything ranging from people’s dignity to water resources.

     Mehbooba said that for facilitating that objective it had always used tags of anti nationalism against its opponents, some being pushed to Pakistan and the rest given choice of facing official or the party terror or fall in line. She said the same treatment was meted out to the MUF in 1987 and people were forced to pick up gun, a situation that suited the ruling family of the NC as it got an opportunity to offer its services for reining in the very people whom it had fed on the slogan of plebiscite for 22 long years. “NC has been able to take both the center and the people of the state for a ride” but its bluff will finally be called by the people when it is held to account for the killings of 115 youth who are accused of having demanded the same right that this party of all seasons did between 1953 and 1975. She said NC got nervous with any competition within the democratic space and schemed to retain power by pushing people out of the system to have a solo monopoly over the power structure.

Promising stiff resistance to the NC’s tactics of deceit and repression, Mehbooba said the ruling clique has realized that the PDP was a different stuff and it could not be bought, broken or browbeaten. The party will fight tooth and nail the policy of repression that the NC is pursuing with the sole aim of driving the youth to separatism and then seeking political ‘supari’ for killing them. “We will fully utilize the democratic space for securing the rights of the people including the fundamental question of resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir” she declared and dared the government to stop the PDP.

Explaining the perspective of the struggle launched by the PDP, Mehbooba said the people here had suffered for too long to be fooled by hollow promises. “When things flare up in Kashmir as they did in three consecutive summers since 2008 the center shows urgency in resolving the issue” she said and regretted that once the firefighting is over “we are again neglected and left to our fate and the security apparatus”. She said we waited and watched for three months to give the government sufficient time to improve and show some seriousness in applying balm to the wounds caused by its misgovernance and atrocities. But every promise including the 8 point road map is being implemented only in breach with more security camps mushrooming and more youth finding themselves behind bars she regretted.

Mehbooba said the NC government was in no position to demand reduction of troops or revocation of AFSPA as it was completely dependant on official repression for its survival. “With what moral authority can this party demand  reduction in troops after it called in more only a few months back and even begged the Army to take over the situation”, Mehbooba wondered and said no body is going to buy Omar Abdullah’s hollow rhetoric any more.

Urging the center to display more trust in the people of the state Mehbooba said the confusing signals emerging from different authorities led the people to the sad conclusion that all pronouncements about finding a lasting solution were only an eyewash. This impression could be highly dangerous in a regional atmosphere that has been defying all attempts at stability she cautioned and pleaded “please don’t push the youth to wall again”. She said the continued targeting of youth and repression against them could once again radicalize the situation, which the NC wants for its power calculations but would ultimately hurt us all. She demanded immediate release of youth and other political prisoners.

Mehbooba said besides the political sabotage of resolution efforts and repression, NC had achieved the dubious distinction of giving this state the most corrupt, inefficient and insensitive government. She said power scenario had hit the worst this winter and this had happened after six years of vast improvement and in spite of the fact that power generation had increased by more than 500 MWs since 2009. Instead of trying to rectify the situation the NC leadership was continuing its agenda of selling out state’s power and water resources to NHPC. After the seven projects handed over by Farooq Abdullah to the NHPC, his son Omar had handed over three more projects to them, spelling an economic disaster for the state. “On the one hand the government is unable to pay the salaries to its employees and on the other it is selling the only viable resource we have”, she said

Others present were Ab Rehman Veeri, Peerzada Mansoor Ahmed, Mohd Rafi Mir, Peer Mohd Hussain District President, Ab Rahim Rather, state secretary Youth Imran Amin , District Youth president and all the zonal presidents at the occasion and took the procession from Wazir Bagh to Deputy Commissioners office at lalchowk Anantnag.

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