Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 10: There was uproar in the Legislative Council today as People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislator, Murtaza Ahmad Khan locked horns with Minister of State (MoS) for Home and Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani and National Conference member Devinder Singh Rana while objecting to the information given by the Minister in response to his question.
During the question hour, Murtaza wanted to know from MoS Home that how many militants and their families have returned to the State after the rehabilitation policy announced by the Government. He also wanted to know whether any of these militants or their family members is in police custody. The Minister while replying to the question said that no militant or their family member is in the custody of the police.
Murtaza contested the reply of the Minister saying that at least one woman identified as Asima wife of Mohammad Ashraf resident of Poonch has been lodged at Chadoora-Budgam police station. He accused the Minister of misleading the house and asked him not to give incorrect information on the floor of the house. Legislative Council Chairman, Amrit Malhotra intervened in the matter
After this the House took up the normal business including some calling attention notices and bills for consideration. As Jugal Kishore of Congress stood up to introduce his bill the MoS Home intervened and sought the attention of the chair. The Minister said that he wanted to set the information right with respect to the question posed by Murtaza.
Nasir said that the woman arrested by the police as pointed out by the legislator has been arrested well before the announcement of the rehabilitation policy. He said if the legislator has knowledge about any other case he may come out with details so that information is provided to him and the House.
The clarification didn’t go well with Murtaza who said that the Minister is distorting the facts thus leading to dissemination of wrong information. He said that he wanted to know that whether any militant or their family member has been arrested without referring to the rehabilitation policy of the Government. The legislator was countered by MoS Home who said that the legislator’s question had sought details under the rehabilitation policy, adding that he (the legislator) is backtracking from his commitment.
In his clarification, the MoS Home said that Asima along with her husband crossed over to this place on May 10, 2010. He said that the rehabilitation policy for the persons who had crossed over for arms training came into effect in the last week of November in 2010. This did not satisfy the legislator who said that Government is hiding the facts about the arrest of persons who have returned from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan.
On this the NC member Devinder Singh Rana stood up and said that Murtaza has a habit of creating disturbance in the house. He said that Murtaza should behave properly and follow the ethics of the house. He said that the Minister has set the record straight and the legislator should believe him. On this, Murtaza said that Rana is acting more loyal than the king while defending the Government on the floor of the house. He asked Rana to keep quiet saying that Minister should respond to the clarification raised by him.
Rana retorted back saying that he has every right to raise a point in the House and no member whosoever can stop him in doing so. He alleged that Murtaza tries to gag the voice of the other members, adding that the member fabricates the facts in the house. Syed Rafiq Shah chipped in and said that both Murtaza and Rana are trying to please their leaders while fighting it out in the Council.
Legislative Council Chairman intervened in the matter and asked the Minister and the legislator to culminate the hot discussion.
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