Opposition hits out at Govt over civilian killings

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 11: Expressing grief over the killing of three civilians in Kulgam today, opposition National Conference, Congress and others have held the State and Central Governments responsible for such incidents.
In a statement, NC president and MP Srinagar, Dr Farooq Abdullah said: “It’s time for PDP-BJP Government and especially the Chief Minister to introspect and acknowledge the damage caused by their anti people policies and actions throughout the State.”
NC working president Omar Abdullah also expressed grief over civilian killings and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families. He said it was for the Chief Minister and her conscious to answer for her Government’s continued supervision of bloodshed and oppression in Kashmir.
Meanwhile NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar presided over a meeting of party leaders and legislators at Nawa-e-Subah and expressed dismay over the abject failure of the incumbent Chief Minister and head of the Unified Command in stopping the mayhem that has engulfed the whole State.
The meeting was attended by provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, North Zone president and MLA Sonawari Mohammad Akbar Lone, District president Srinagar Peer Afaq Ahmad, ex MLA Irfan Shah, provincial secretary Adv Showkat Mir, provincial spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar and Jt secretary Ghulam Nabi Bhat who unanimously condemned the killing of civilians in Kulgam.
“Ever since PDP-BJP Government assumed office, Jammu & Kashmir has suffered at every level. Whether it is Jammu, Srinagar or any other part of the State, mayhem and chaos continues to run amok. We all are witness to the deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Deaths and maiming of the worst order have now become a routine,” Sagar said.
The J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G A Mir also expressed profound grief over the unabated loss of lives due to regular incidents of encounters in South Kashmir and elsewhere in the Valley, urging that the killings must end from either side in the larger interests of peace.
Expressing deep sorrow over the loss of lives in Khudwani (Kulgam) today, G A Mir said that the blood bath in Valley has crossed all limits for which both State and Centre Govts were fully responsible as they lack any policy on Kashmir with the result that the situation in Valley has turned from bad to worse.
“There is a need to adopt holistic approach to reach out to people to address the problems,” G A Mir added and urged upon the Centre to ensure peaceful atmosphere in Valley so that the loss of lives from either side could be avoided.
Urging upon the forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with situation, he urged that Forces must ensure that civilians are not killed or injured. At the same time, he also reiterated his appeal to people especially youth to stop confronting forces and maintain calm in the larger interests of safety of life and property.
Former PCC president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz has said that with the killing of three civilians and injuries to more than 20 others by the forces in Kulgam today, the unrest in Kashmir has touched new heights and Modi Government must declare ceasefire besides initiating talks forthwith.
“The continuous killings in Kashmir have caused unprecedented unrest in minds and people in Kashmir, in one voice, seek an answer from the Modi Govt. as to how long it intends to continue with the killing of civilian population in Kashmir along with others, who are also human beings,” he said in a statement.
The Congress leader suggested that it was high time that the Modi Govt decides to talk to Kashmir, particularly with the Hurriyat leadership, without any inhibitions and without losing any further time.
Prof Bhim Singh, chief patron of National Panthers Party has urged the President of India Ramnath Kovind for his intervention vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir. Also demanding immediate dissolution of J&K Government and imposition of Governor Rule, he claimed that this is the only way out to save the State of J&K from further death and destruction and save the national interest in the State of J&K where the innocent people have been suffering for years.
Prof Bhim Singh said that whatever has been happening in Kashmir; arrests, killings, murders, clashes, street clashes, closure of all Government institutions as well as educational centres like schools, colleges and universities has caused irreparable damage to the people as well as to the democratic norms in the State.
President Jammu and Kashmir Bachao Tehreek and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil and General Secretary JKBT and former MLC Syed Rafiq Shah, in a joint statement, have asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to either check such repeated actions of security forces or resign on moral grounds.
Both the leaders said that killing of civilians was not acceptable in any case. “Everybody in Kashmir is not a militant. We have already lost three generations to the conflict. How long will all this continue. Security forces are repeating such actions. All such forces should be checked failing which the Chief Minister has no moral right to head the Government in which the people have lost the sense of security,” they said and demanded judicial probe into the killings adding that mere condemnations are not enough on such incidents.