Rasheed Wins ‘Review’ Promise Over Guru Resolution

Jammu-Based Members Bid To Drag Langate MLA Out Of House

SRINAGAR: Amid unprecedented rowdy scenes, Jammu-based opposition members on Tuesday tried to drag independent legislator Engineer Abdul Rahseed out of the assembly, calling him a Pakistani agent for his demand of returning Muhammad Afzal Guru’s body.

 The MLA from Langate was seeking explanations why his resolution over the issue was shot down by the speaker without voting on the floor of the house, a decision the speaker had informed him of in a letter yesterday.

But his vehement and unceasing protests caused the speaker to relent, and promise to review his decision.

“This assembly is a stage set by New Delhi to enact obscene charades for repeatedly humiliating Kashmiris,” En Rasheed shouted in anger.

The legislator was on his feet as soon as proceedings began, asking the speaker why his resolution had been dropped, and protested vehemently when told by the chair that the issue could not be brought up again as the house had already held a special discussion over it.

En Rasheed remonstrated before the speaker, saying: “A dirty trick has been played in the house once again by rejecting the resolution even before voting. This has not only hurt the sentiments of Kashmiris but democracy itself has been done to death.”

Cutting a lone figure in the house because of the opposition PDP’s boycott of the rest of the budget session, the legislator lamented over their empty seats.

“People of Kashmir expected members occupying these benches to represent their sentiments,” he said. “But by boycotting the session at the behest of New Delhi, the PDP has created a situation to get the best of both worlds for itself.”

“On the one hand, the PDP did not want to displease the Delhi Durbar by supporting the resolution on the return of Muhammad Afzal Guru’s body, and on the other the party wants to create an impression among the Kashmiri people that it had no role in getting the resolution rejected,” he said.

“Had a learned lawyer like Muzaffar Hussain Beig been present in the house at this moment, it would have been extremely difficult for the speaker to reject the resolution on the pretext of incomprehensible rules as he (Beig) is fully conversant with legal nuances,” he said.

“Like the National Conference, the PDP does not want to take the risk of displeasing New Delhi,” he said.

“The chief minister Omar Abdullah has lost confidence of the masses because of playing crafty politics with their sentiments, He should step down,” he said.

“If the National Conference does not have the courage to hold a mere ballot on a resolution, it should be ashamed of itself and give up power,” he said.

The BJP and other Jammu-based parties taunted Rasheed for being a “Pakistani agent” and demanded that he be thrown out of the house.

“He is using the assembly for anti-India propaganda,” some Jammu based members said, accusing the speaker of double standards.

“En Rasheed creates a scene for the whole day, and no action is taken against him, but when someone from our side holds even a minor protest, he is suspended,” they said.

Unfazed, Rasheed replied that the (Jammu members) intimidating behaviour “could not change the immutable fact that J and Kashmir was an issue of dispute.”

“The state is nobody’s atoot ang or jugular vein, but a disputed region whose future must be decided in accordance with the aspirations of its people,” he said.

  “If you are so confident of its status, I dare you to get the UNMOGIP removed from Jammu and Kashmir,” he shot back.

This infuriated the Jammu-based members who created unparalleled rowdy scenes, with some members rushing at Rasheed and trying to drag him out, shouting “the house cannot harbour Pakistani agents.”

But MLAs Muhammad Akbar Lone,  Chaudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen and Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, came to Rasheed’s rescue and saved him from the attack.

The speaker halted proceedings to get the situation under control, but the MLA from Langate stuck to his guns when the house reconvened.

In the face of Rasheed’s unceasing agitation, the speaker finally relented, saying that he would review his decision which had rejected the resolution seeking Guru’s body.

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