Demanding immediate disbanding of Village Defence Committees (VDCs), Opposition National Conference today threatened mass agitation if the PDP-BJP alliance continues "patronising" of the armed committees.
"National Conference will not hesitate to launch a long and sustained mass agitation over this issue (disbanding of VDCs) if the PDP-BJP alliance continues patronising the armed committees," party Chief Spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said.
Condemning the murder of a woman and her minor son allegedly by a VDC member in Rajouri district, Mehdi said the Jammu and Kashmir government would be "squarely responsible" for loss of innocent lives at the hands of the armed group if it fails to disband these committees.
"The murder of mother-son duo is another tragedy to have befallen the state after the equally tragic murder of NC youth leader Ishtiyaq Chaudhry of Kalakote by a VDC member.
"We condemn these murders in the strongest terms and demand the culprits be brought to the book without any delay and without an iota of patronising and political shielding," Mehdi said.
The NC chief spokesperson also alleged that the PDP-BJP coalition was using the Village Defence Committees as "political militia" to "silence dissent".
"An atmosphere of insecurity has been created to further sinister political agenda in the state.
Having been exposed as a "complete failure", the PDP-BJP government is now using VDCs to exert a "repressive, extra-judicial influence" on the people through such tactics.
"The chief minister of the state who holds the charge of the Home Ministry and is personally responsible for such incidents and it is his duty to prevent the VDCs from inflicting any more harm on innocent civilians," he said.
Meanwhile, hardliner Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani also criticised the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh for reportedly refusing to disband the VDCs.
"VDC is not a political party but an armed force beyond the control of state authorities and above the constitution and law of the state," Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akbar claimed in a statement.
"Also, to blame external forces and vested interests
alone would be a dangerous diversion that takes us away from the basis, for not only such unrests and agitations in Kashmir but also a prolonged political turmoil that has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives," the NC memorandum said.
The delegation, which also comprised Ali Mohammed Sagar, Abdul Rahim Rather and Nasir Wani, demanded a judicial probe into the "mishandling of the situation in the aftermath of Burhan Wani's killing, including the veracity of claims made by (PDP) senior leaders including its Member of Parliament for North Kashmir and the State's Finance Minister".
Highlighting the handling of situation in the aftermath of killing of Wani, the National Conference leaders said when there was a need for dealing the situation in a political and humane manner, the situation was further compounded by contradictory statements by Ministers and elected representatives belonging to the ruling dispensation.
"While senior PDP Leader and Member of Parliament Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig has blamed 'internal rivalry' within certain sections of the state Police for Wani's killing, another PDP Leader and State Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu has termed Burhan Wani's killing a case of custodial execution by the State Police while speaking in a Cabinet Meeting," the opposition delegation alleged.
It said the judicial probe should also ascertain "if excessive force was used against protestors in the Valley with an aim to initiate legal proceedings in cases where excessive use of force is proven. Timely and visible action should be taken in such instances."
It also sought immediate restoration of mobile communications in the Valley and mobile internet services, saying "any prolonged clampdown on the telecom sector in the present day and age is an archaic, unimaginative and draconian approach to deal with public dissent and anger."
The memorandum said by blocking telecommunication with the "purpose of cracking down on criticism of the Government and growing dissent against the administration has resulted in untold miseries and suffering in the Valley".
"The clampdown on mobile telecommunications in the Valley continues without any indication of restoration of services by the Government. This too has fuelled the sentiment of alienation and isolation in Kashmir," it said.
The NC demanded the judicial probe to fix responsibility for the crackdown on newspaper offices and printing presses, claiming that now the Chief Minister has denied her Government's involvement in this repressive exercise.
"Legal action should be initiated in this matter and the state Government should extend an unconditional, unequivocal apology to the local media for this unwarranted repression," the memorandum said.
The NC also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the Home Minister for promptly responding to Omar's appeal to send eye-specialists to the Valley to treat hundreds of cases of young men and women, who sustained "potentially handicapping, lethal injuries due to the unrestricted and wanton use of pellet guns on protestors."
It sought all possible medical and financial assistance in the treatment of civilians who sustained grievous injuries, including specialised treatment outside the state.
They also demanded a complete ban on 'non lethal' weapons that caused grievous, life-threatening and fatal injuries.
While expressing strong condemnation of a "clear pattern" of excessive use of force on protestors across the Valley, the delegation informed the Home Minister that NC wasted no time in rising over partisan politics by reaching out to the state government "to lend our support to help and minimise the loss of young lives" despite having serious reservations about the state government's "inhumane, insensitive and chaotic response" to the situation in the Valley.
The delegation informed the Home Minister that the party's working President Omar Abdullah had made a timely and prompt public appeal to the Chief Minister to lead a political effort to normalise the situation in the Valley.
"It is tragic and condemnable that the Chief Minister and the State Government did not respond to this appeal and expression of support when a collective, bi-partisan effort could have helped in the non-negotiable goal of preventing the loss of lives," they said.
Justifying its stand to boycott the All-Party Meeting, the delegation said the party did not want to be part of an elaborate "theatrical charade by the Chief Minister to compensate for her shocking lack of a sense of responsibility to deal with the situation in the State.
"We remain committed to helping the aggrieved and affected people and also playing an active role in any over- arching effort to normalize the situation in the Valley."
Maintaining that the PDP-BJP government had adopted a 'good cop-bad cop policy', the NC said on one hand state government spokesperson and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar went on record to re-affirm and justify the Government's media gag, on the other the Chief Minister, through her Advisor Amitabh Mattoo, sought to "deny the existence of the media gag while publicly and ironically promising action against those responsible for 'miscommunication' and 'misrepresentation'".
"If this means possible action against the State Government's Spokesperson and Education Minister, or if this is just another elaborate enacting of the 'Good Cop-Bad Cop' trick to isolate the Chief Minister from the ramifications of assaulting the media and curbing the fourth estate - is a question that remains unanswered," it said.
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Meanwhile, talking to reporters outside, Omar said there was a need to take some long-term measures to address the issue of Kashmir.
"We all are concerned over the prevailing situation. The situation has been bad in the Valley since the last 16 days. More than 40 people have lost their life and thousands are injured. We put forward some points before the Union Home Minister and also told him that there is a need to take some long-term measures," he said.
"The basic issue is political and till the time we do not accept this, it will be impossible to find a solution to it," he said.
Omar said the Union Home Minister's response was "good and positive".
"His response has always been positive. I met him in Delhi as well and we had a long conversation and the response was good and positive," he said.
The NC leader said his party boycotted the all-party meet conveyed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as there was "no fun in talking to someone who had proven herself as powerless".
"She (Mehbooba) proved herself powerless by her own statements, that she knew nothing about the prevailing situation.
"So, what was the fun in talking to her? First it was said that she knew about Burhan (Wani's encounter), then they said she did not know. Then, they said the Prime Minister is the one to stop the use of excessive force and not the chief minister. Then after banning the media, they said they did not know about it," he said.
"So, we decided that we will not take part in that meeting," Omar said.
