Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 26: National Conference President and Member of Parliament from Srinagar, Dr Farooq Abdullah today said the communication blockade invoked by the PDP-BJP Government would play havoc with the State’s economy and render thousands of youth unemployed.
Interacting with various traders’ delegations from Srinagar that called on him, Dr Abdullah said that the PDP-BJP Government was not only suppressing the people of the State through brute force but was also persecuting them economically.
“The continued blockade of internet will seriously affect our businesses and especially youth-oriented new start-ups in the e-commerce sector that depend primarily on internet accessibility and penetration”, he said, adding “this will in turn lead to an increase in unemployment as the private sector especially the tourism sector will be severely hit”.
He further said that using such measures to suppress dissent against a deeply unpopular Government is as futile an exercise as that Government continuing to be in power despite being rejected by the people of the State.
The Member of Parliament also expressed amusement at earlier promises of the PDP-BJP Government to usher the State into an era of e-governance and said even basic governance was a far-fetched expectation as far as Mehbooba Mufti Government was concerned. “These are the same individuals who used to talk about providing all possible digital platforms and communication opportunities to youth that would help them in the pursuit of their career and entrepreneurial aspirations”, he added.
He strongly condemned the Government’s onslaught on young students and said the PDP-BJP Government had declared a full-fledged war even against school students and didn’t even have the civility to spare girl students. “Such is the ruthlessness and barbarism perpetrated by this Government that even young school going girls are at the receiving ends of batons and teargas shells”, he added.
He demanded an immediate resumption of disrupted internet services in the Valley and said the Chief Minister was personally liable for the consequences such regressive policies would have on the future of youth.
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