"Such treatment of the J&K state only fuels alienation, contributes to trust deficit and cultivates the feeling of 'otherness' among the people here," PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said while addressing a party meet.
He was referring to the 'one-nation-one-number' provision, which exempts users from paying roaming charges under the National Telecom Policy 2012, which is not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
The former chief minister said it was ironic that the state should be kept out of a scheme which is christened such.
"What message are you sending to the people of the state by such small-minded policies?" Sayeed, who played a crucial role in persuading the Centre to start mobile telephony in the state during his tenure, asked.
He claimed that such actions brought to a naught all efforts at bridging the gulf between the state and rest of the country and need to be dumped.
"By treating the people of the state as suspects in implementation of policies like the telecom policy, the government is actually creating a mistrust about them which reflects often in unwarranted police action against them in various states," alleged. (More)