SRINAGAR: The Peoples Democratic Party while condemning what it called the continuous siege of Pulwama town and its adjoining villages in the aftermath of the recent firing incidents, in which many people were injured, has criticized the NC led government for allegedly unleashing reign of terror on the people of J&K.
In a joint statement the party chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar, senior leader Syed Altaf Bukhari, MLA Pulwama Mohammad Khalil Bandh and MLA Rajpora Syed Bashir Ahmad have demanded immediate release of the innocent youth who have been arrested in the last four days. They have also called for an end to persecution of youth of the area on flimsy charges and spoiling their careers and lives.
The leaders said the present government instead of resolving issues facing the youth are targeted them viciously and thousands of them were framed in false cases. They said that in the modern age of free media young people of the state naturally compared their inability to voice their sentiments with what was happening in other parts of the country. They said Omar Abdullah had only recently advised central government on how to relate with youth and ‘learn from him’ but for the last four days his administration has virtually laid a siege in and around Pulwama while the chief minister himself is vacationing abroad. ” It is a travesty of justice that while more than a dozen persons were injured in firing officially attributed to ‘blocking traffic’ no action is contemplated against the perpetrators but youth are arrested for having protested against it”, they added.
The PDP leaders said the narrow minded repression by the government was unfortunately radicalising the youth once more, the evidence of which was provided recently in the Sopore encounter where one of the slain militants had been victimised post 2010 agitation. They said the reports about more such victims of official terror having joined the militant ranks were highly disturbing and if the government policies continue unchanged the state could be in for repeat of the post 1987 tragedy. They said while Omar government had failed to honour its announcements about withdrawal of cases against youth, more innocents including teenagers were being slapped with PSA and booked for waging war against the state ‘with a stone in hand’. They regretted that the same administration that had produced entirely different results and helped restore credibility of system was being used by Omar to target innocents just for his own political survival.
Calling for lifting of curfew from Pulwama MLA of Rajpora Syed Bashir Ahmad said that essential commodities like medicines and daily provisions were not available to the citizens, which has caused a serious situation in the town. They said the government must utilise its resources and energies in providing justice, amenities and good governance to people rather than count on its strong-arm methods to silence voices of dissent in the state.
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