*Why not an IIT for Kashmir?
Excelsior Correspondent
Baramulla, July 12: Lashing out at PDP and its Parliamentarians from the Valley for maintaining a criminal silence over the brazen discrimination meted out to Kashmir by the Union Government while allotting an IIT to Jammu and depriving the youth of the Valley on this count, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also Working President, National Conference, today said that it was a matter of absolute shame for the leadership of PDP that its Parliamentarians had bartered the interests of the youth of the State for petty and short-term political benefits.
“Unlike the criminal attitude and negligence shown towards Kashmir by PDP and its Parliamentarians who thrive on rhetoric and hypocrisy, it were the Parliamentarians from National Conference who raised their voices both inside and outside the Parliament and got two Central Universities for the State, one each for Kashmir and Jammu”, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that the manner of conspicuous silence maintained by PDP and its MPs over this lopsided and discriminatory decision of the BJP Government proved PDP’s covert understanding with BJP to divide the State on regional lines by engineering a rift between Kashmir and Jammu.
“This is only the beginning and PDP MPs have already started revealing their hidden agenda and lack of spine through their complicity in such blatant discrimination. One can only dread what could be in store for the people of Kashmir who were misled by PDP through rhetoric, hypocrisy and hollow promises of raising their voice in the Parliament. Where is PDP’s voice now?”, the Working President, National Conference asked.
Omar Abdullah said that National Conference treated all three regions of the State equally without any prejudices and out-rightly rejects this policy of applying different yardsticks to Kashmir Valley and Jammu. He said the interests of all three regions – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were equally dear to National Conference and the party would continue to fight for equitable development and justice in all the regions and sub-regions of the State.
Addressing workers conventions at Rafiabad and Baramulla today, the Working President of National Conference said that PDP efforts to compare itself to National Conference were foolhardy and ridiculous attempts to distort history. “PDP’s leadership will have to be born a hundred times over and over again to understand the history of struggle, selfless service and sacrifices rendered by National Conference”, he said while asking PDP to introspect for its own good and recollect how its Patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had been a part of every constitutional machination and erosion against the State since 1953.
“It was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who during one of his speeches exhorted the youth to stay away from the gun as he had come as their saviour. Ironically yet unsurprisingly as soon as PDP came to power they did a volte face and shamelessly opposed the rehabilitation proposal that was supported by National Conference for the youth who had crossed the Line of Control”, Omar said while stating that it was the National Conference Government which implemented the Rehabilitation Policy for the youth who had crossed over the Line of Control without trying to score brownie points and draw political mileage from this initiative. “This was a prime example that reflects the vast gulf between what PDP says and what it does in reality”, Omar said.
Omar Abdullah asked the party workers to open the Pandora’s Box of PDP and show people their real face and a history of deceits, betrayals and sell-outs. He said the leadership of PDP is mistaken into thinking that it could change its disguise and come before the people in new avatars to deceive them for the umpteenth time by perpetuatung confusion on vital issues concerning the State and its people. Omar said that PDP’s ultimate aim is to fragment the regional political voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that has been represented by National Conference for decades on a bedrock of sacrifices and resillience.
The Chief Minister said that unprecedented work had been done by the State Government during last over five years in areas of health, education, power, infrastructure, public services, horticulture and tourism. Omar Abdullah said the National Conference Government has taken historic decisions in all fields of governance and development particularly concerning common people and youth.
The Chief Minister mentioned the historic decision of his Government of creation of new administrative units and said that this decentralization and empowerment exercise would transform governance by making it more accessible to the common masses. Omar Abdullah said the creation of new administrative units would help in addressing the day-to-day grievances of the common masses in a more effective and time-bound manner while at the same time creating a mechanism for better implementation and monitoring of development schemes at the local level.
National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani and District President Baramulla Javed Ahmad Dar also addressed the workers conventions among other senior party leaders and functionaries.
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