Govt taking measures to help border firing victims: CM

Fayaz Bukhari

SRINAGAR, Aug 25: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, today said that his Government is fully aware of the suffering of the border people caused due to firing from across the border by Pakistani troops and is taking necessary measure to mitigate them.
Omar accused the opposition of raising the issue of border shelling for electoral gains. “They want to raise it (border shelling) for elections as they are nearing in”, he said.
Chief Minister said that they (opposition) think that Government is not doing anything for the people who have been affected by the border shelling.
Omar said that the Government job is to help the border people who have been affected by shelling. “The issue of shelling across the border and its reply is the matter to be tackled by the Centre Government”, he added.
When some Members of PDP raised the issue of hailstorm in some areas of the Valley, the Chief Minister said that today’s session was for obituary references. He suggested that if Speaker deems it fit, he can put both the issue of shelling and hailstorm in the next business schedule of the House so that Government gives replies to the questions of the Members accordingly.
Earlier, Opposition National Panthers Party Member Legislative Assembly, Balwant Singh Mankotia, was today marshalled out from the Legislative Assembly after he disrupted the proceedings of the House over the issue of ceasefire violations by Pakistan in Jammu region and Government’s failure to provide food and shelter to those displaced.
Wearing a black band on his head, Mankotia protested against Pakistan over border firing issue that led to displacement of thousands of people. He raised the issue of ceasefire violations by Pakistan and the difficulties faced by people living in border areas. He said that the Government is not doing anything for these people and demanded that Government should provide them all necessary help.
The Speaker, Mubarak Gul told him that the firing issue was related to the Union Ministry of Defence and they can’t do anything regarding it. However, Mankotia continued his protest and came into the well of house.
The Speaker directed the Assembly marshals to take him away and as he was being marshaled out, the Speaker appealed the voters of Udhampur constituency to “teach Mankotia a lesson” in the elections for disrupting obituary reference. “His behavior has been worst and there is no history of raising any issue during obituary references”, he added.
The House witnessed a very low attendance as all the BJP members remained absent. The seats of Opposition leader and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti and PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig were vacant as they were elected to Parliament and resigned from State Assembly. PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and its ailing leader Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari were also absent.

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