Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 15 Ruling BJP members today created ruckus in Legislative Assembly over the violence in Jammu city and in Legislative Council they were joined by Opposition Congress party members and Leader of Opposition, Omar Abdullah, appealed for calm in the House.
As soon as the House assembled this morning, the BJP members took to their feet demanding the Government to make a statement on the incident of violence in Jammu last night. “It is matter of serious concern … some anti-social elements have carried out an anti-social act. Situation in Jammu is bad. The Government should make a statement,” BJP MLA Ravinder Raina said.
National Conference MLA Altaf Ahmad Kaloo and Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid also joined the issue demanding the Government to ensure safety of Kashmiris in Jammu region. “Four boys from Pahalgam area have been arrested in Jammu. What is their fault?,” Kaloo asked.
The BJP MLAs were offended by the intervention of Kaloo and Rashid and had heated arguments with them. This led to commotion in the House and CPI (M) MLA M Y Tarigami had to intervene to restore some sort of calm.
Tarigami said the entire House should condemn the incident that took place in Jammu and appeal for calm and brotherhood. “Let us not divide this State along communal lines. Let us appeal for calm and brotherhood,” he said.
Omar, the leader of National Conference in the House, supported Tarigami’s suggestion saying it would have been better if it had come from the treasury benches. “It would have been better if this suggestion would have come from the Treasury benches. Usually, the Chief Minister comes here (Assembly) and intervenes…but today neither she nor the Deputy Chief Minister are here when the situation in Jammu is on the brink,” he said.
Omar said the members of the House should not fight over the issue and rather set an example for the people to follow on ground. “What we do here will be cue for the people in Jammu,” he said.
Earlier, Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan made a statement on the issue. He said as per information received by police station, one “lunatic” person identified as Yasir, a resident of Doda, tried to damage and defile a Temple in Janipura area.
“The accused was arrested by police but while being taken away, temple priest and some local residents tried to stop the police from discharging the duties”, the Minister said.
“The residents then held protests outside the police station and resorted to violence, setting on fire several vehicles including two police buses”, the Minister said adding three policemen including SHO of the police station were injured in the incident.
Khan said the situation was brought under control by use of “mild lathicharge” and tear smoke shells. Two cases viz FIR No. 51/2016 U/S 295 RPC and FIR No. 52/2016 U/S 435/147/148/149/341/427/336/332 RPC have been registered at P/S Janipur and investigation initiated. Some accused persons have been arrested so far. The preliminary investigations suggest that the accused person who entered the temple is a lunatic patient,” he added.
The Minister also informed the House that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh were not present in the Assembly as they were in Jammu to personally monitor the situation.
In Legislative Council, Congress and ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators raised the issue after which Government issued a statement and condemned the sacrilegious act.
As soon as the House met, the members of Congress and BJP got up from their benches and sought the attention of Chairman Haji Anayat Ali towards the matter.
Congress MLC, Naresh Kumar Gupta while condemning the sacrilegious act alleged that police brutally canecharged the protesters after the incident.
“People were thrashed like animals and police barged into their houses. Is this what you call zero tolerance?,” Gupta asked. The Congress MLC claimed that the incident is a ploy to drift State towards 2008-like situation. On the other side, the BJP members demanded statement from the Government.
Education Minister, Naeem Akhtar said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh are presently in Jammu and closely monitoring the situation that has arisen due to the Roop Nagar temple incident. He also issued the statement about the incident.
Apparently satisfied with the statement of Minister Naeem Akhtar, the BJP members demanded that the accused should be sent to mental hospital. The House proceedings later commenced smoothly and there was no disruption by any member over the Jammu incident.
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