Mehbooba reiterating her demand,security forces be sent back to barracks & their special powers be w

Scoop News June 02, 2009

Srinagar(J&K), June 2 (Vijay Kumar) - Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti reiterating her party’s demand that the security forces be sent back to barracks and their special powers be withdrawn .Mehbooba said nothing short of that could restore people’s confidence in the state apparatus and prevent recurrence of gross human rights violations.

She said the life and honour of Kashmiri women should not be taken for granted and National Conference government must understand that they are now ruling the state in a vastly changed scenario. The People’s Democratic Party and the public in general will make it impossible for them to get away with the crimes they commit against ordinary men and women.

Mehobooba said her party had been campaigning for the reduction of troops and scrapping of AFSPA for the last many years in view of vastly improved law and order situation. We can no more afford to grant immunity to the men in uniform for their crimes when according to official reports there are no more than a few hundred militants active in the state. She said that number must be considerably lower than people with arms in states like Andhra Pradesh, Orissa or Chattisgarh.

She said the state government has bungled the investigation in Shopian incident and vitiated the judicial inquiry even before it was ordered.

In a statement here on Tuesday she said the government has forfeited whatever artificial credibility it had by prejudging the findings without waiting for the outcome of the inquiry it ordered apparently as a hogwash. “What will the inquiring judge find out when the Chief Minister categorically rules out any foul play” she wondered. Omar Abdullah she said was obviously going by the more convenient reports of his officials than what everybody in Kashmir believes is the truth.

Mehbooba said if the Chief Minister, who is supposed to be the custodian of people’s life and honour, himself takes three days to return from the national capital even when his state was on the boil how can he command the trust of the people.

The PDP President said it was the misfortune of this state that it had got the worst Government at the most crucial juncture of its history as a result of an arithmetical combination in the state assembly. This government she said has failed on every front and it is no wonder that the people have openly revolted against it. No amount of official repression, tear gassing, lathicharge or firing can stifle the popular sentiment against the outrageous acts that have been committed against innocent people during the five months of this government.

Mehbooba said it is as a result of immunity enjoyed by security forces that there is no headway in any action that has been initiated against them. Proven cases of cold blooded murder like Pathribal and Ganderbal have failed to make any progress in the courts as the men in uniform take recourse to AFSPA. She said while Omar Abdullah was claiming credit for shifting a camp from Bomai to another adjacent village people would want to know what action has been taken against the killers of two youths there or those who have brutally murdered many others. “It is easy for him to transfer a local Deputy Commissioner or recommend action against a local Police Inspector as they too belong to the powerless Kashmir community but his real challenge as Chief Minister is how he deals with the security forces”, she said.