Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 8: Former State Chief Minister and National Conference president , Dr Farooq Abdullah today said that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should step down as her Government has totally failed to effectively perform and restore peace in Kashmir.
Talking to media-persons on the sidelines of a function at party office here today, Dr Abdullah said that PDP-BJP coalition led by Mehbooba Mufti has totally failed to perform. He said there is no governance visible at all in the State and she has proved a big failure. ” Mehbooba should step down as she has failed to effectively perform”, Dr Abdullah maintained.
Referring to the situation in Kashmir, the former Chief Minister said that schools and all other educational institutions in Kashmir are lying closed. Many schools have been burnt down by the miscreants. “Education system has been derailed. The life of people there has become hell. There is no Government machinery visible on the ground and law and order situation has turned grim. Every body is leaving Kashmir as it has not remained a place to live in. Students who are worried about their career have also left Valley,” he added.
” She has failed to restore peace and law and order in Kashmir. The burning down of schools is on. The Chief Minister has claimed that she would reveal the names of the miscreants behind this burning spree in Valley. Why she is silent and failed to identify them ? She has lost the moral right to continue in the chair,” the NC leader added.
Referring to the situation along borders, Dr Farooq said, ” War is no solution. The innocent people are being killed on both sides. What we achieved after three wars. Nothing will come out of it. We can not allow our civilians to be killed like ducks by Pakistan troops. It is necessary to hold talks with Pakistan and restore peace on borders with fresh agreement. We will have to think on the Vajpayee model of restoring peace on borders,” Dr Abdullah maintained.
Earlier, addressing NC women convention, Dr Abdullah expressed serious concern over the condition of people along the International Border and Line of Control. He alleged that there is strong resentment among the people living on Borders and those taking refuge at different camps against Ministers of the Coalition Government as they have not visited them so far. Their MLAs are even busy in other works. Many people have lost lives, scores of them were injured and also lost their livestock in shelling but they have not been provided relief. Many houses have been damaged and people left homeless. Both India and Pakistan should come forward and hold dialogue for restoring peace on the borders, he maintained.
Commenting on the functioning of present Government, Dr Abdullah said there is no governance at all. “There is no development visible anywhere. Many development projects have been stalled and no new projects have been taken up by this Government. Condition of roads is bad and people are facing hardships for want of adequate power and water supply besides ration. It is pity that even after 70 years of independence, we have failed to provide clean water to the people in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh regions”.
Dr Abdullah further said that schools and colleges are closed. There was no class work for the last more than three months and one of the Ministers in this Government is saying that exams will be held on time. When the students have not studied and education institutions did not function, who will sit in the exams. Now they are saying that only 50 % syllabus has to be covered by students. Our students will not be able to compete with the students of other States like Delhi, Punjab, Himachal etc. He said the burning down of schools is unfortunate and the Government has failed to protect these institutions of learning in Valley.
The NC leader launched scathing attack on the so called religious heads of different communities and said that they have only aggravated the miseries of the people by dividing them on the communal lines. He said the God is one and he has not differentiated a human being but these self styled protectors of religions, have created wedge in the society for their vested interests. The people should remain cautious against their designs.
Dr Abdullah stressed for the women empowerment and appealed the women folk to rise to the occasion and wage struggle to get their due share in this male dominated society. He said women should be treated equally in all the fields and if his Government returns to power he would provide due justice and deserving share to the members of fair sex.
Prominent among those who were present and spoke in the convention included, Dr Mustafa Kamaal, Surjit Singh Slathia, Devinder Singh Rana, Abdul Ghani Malik, Sajjad Kichloo, Rashpal Singh, Ram Pal, Satwant Kour Dogra, Bimla Luthra, DV Singh Jamwal, Vijay Lochan and others.
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