Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 23: Strongly condemning the mass arrest of youth and political leaders, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today said the Government has converted Kashmir into a pressure cooker without a safety valve.
Addressing a party workers meeting of Srinagar district today the party president Mehbooba Mufti said the anger management exercise by the Government has reached a new and more attrocious level with people being denied even the basic liberties of expression.
The meeting called to discuss the situation created by the hanging of Afzal Guru was also attended by senior leader Maulvi Iftikhar Hussein Ansari, Naeem Akhtar, district president Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Abdul Hamid Kohsheen and other senior workers.
Mehbooba said hundreds of youth have been arrested throughout the division. There are many instances in which a father has been arrested and kept as a hostage for ‘good behaviour of his son’. She said large number of youth affiliated with the PDP have been detained only to cater to NC’s growing sense of insecurity in the wake of continued exposure through press reports of Omar Abdullah’s role in facilitating Guru’s execution.”
“Kashmir has gone unheard yet again and the Government has used the familiar tactics of dominating the scene with overwhelming security deployment and indiscriminate arrests”, Mehbooba said. She regretted that the devotees were prevented even from going to the shrine of Hazrat Dastgeer saheb on his urs apart from disallowing Friday prayers.
Reiterating the party demand to return Afzal’s remains to the family Mehbooba said that is the only option to reduce their pain of the family and the hurt sentiment of people at large.
Mehbooba said the news reports about the government processing the return of the institute to the family in the backdrop of a clamour for return of Afzal Guru’s.
Mehbooba alleged the ruling family has disposed of some prime property transferred to the Soura institute by previous Governments. That was done in a highly questionable manner and apparently for commercial purposes. She said the NC and ruling family are trying to get back the control of the institute with an eye on some more prime property transferred to it by the Government for which it is reportedly in ‘negotiation’ with a party for a deal that was aborted previously as a result of its take over by the Government.
Addressing the meeting senior leader Maulvi Ansari said National Conference had always thrived on people’s miseries and chaotic conditions. He said the NC wants the situation in Kashmir to remain permanently unstable and disturbed so it could get the ‘contract’ for running the state as per instructions. He said though Kashmir had to pay a heavy price for the NC policies but now people had understood their game plan and would not allow themselves to be cheated again.
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