SRINAGAR: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Monday paid rich tributes to former Speakers of Legislative Assembly, Choudhary Mohammad Aslam and Abdul Ahad Vakil, former Minister Mohammad Akbar Ganie and ex-MLA Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah while speaking on the obituary references made in respect of these late leaders in the Legislative Assembly, which met here this morning on the first day of the last session of the current Assembly.
The Chief Minister mentioned the socio-political careers of these leaders and highlighted their outstanding contributions for the State and its people. He said all these leaders stick to the ideology and programmes of the parties they belonged, throughout their life.
Omar Abdullah said that late Choudhary Mohammad Aslam rendered great service to the people of his constituency and his popularity among the masses was vindicated by the participation of large number of people in his funeral.
While showering praises on late Abdul Ahad Vakil, the Chief Minister said that the unique quality of the late leader was that he was very much candid while giving his opinion which he usually gave after giving due thought to the subject. He also referred to the extra-ordinary knowledge of late Vakil particularly relating to the laws, constitution and constitutional position of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief Minister said that late Mohammad Akbar Ganie rendered services to the people in various capacities. Late Ganie while being at the service of people as a political and social activist helped them as an advocate also.
The Chief Minister also paid tributes to late Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah and highlighted her role as an educationist.
He said till recently late Mehmooda used to give valuable suggestions to the government which were given due consideration.
The Chief Minister also responded to a point raised in the House by Balwant Singh Mankotia regarding the shelling across LoC and sufferings of the people. Omar Abdullah said while government was fully aware of the difficulties of people and is taking all necessary measures to mitigate these, the issue of shelling across the LoC and its reply is the matter to be tackled by the Centre Government.
When some Members of PDP raised the issue of hailstorm in some areas of the Valley, the Chief Minister said that today’s session was for obituary references. He suggested that if Speaker deems it fit, he can put both the issue of shelling and hailstorm in the next business schedule of the House so that government gives replies to the questions of the Members accordingly.
Earlier, Legislative Assembly also paid glowing tributes to the ex-Members of the House who passed away during the recent months.
Speaker, Mubarak Gul while resuming the first day’s business of last session of 12th Assembly, moved the Obituary Reference in the House to pay homage to the late leaders including, Ch. Mohammad Aslam, Abdul Ahad Vakil, Mohammad Akbar Ganai and Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah.
Speaking on obituary references, the Chairman, Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra expressed profound sorrow and grief on the behalf of house on sad demise of Ex-Speakers Choudhary Mohammad Aslam, Abdul Ahad Vakil, Ex-Minister Mohammad Akbar Ganai, and Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah,Ex-Member Legislative Assembly.
The Members who spoke on the reference were Ravinder Kumar Sharma, Mohammad Muzaffer Paray, Vijay Bakaya, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Dr. B. A. Veeri, G. Q. Perdesi, Najeeb Suharawardhy, Ajatshatru Singh, Devinder Singh Rana, Naresh Kumar Gupta, Jehangir Hussain Mir, Showkat Hussain Ganai, Dr. Shehnaz Ganai, Syed Naeem Akhtar, Sayed Rafiq Ahmad Shah and Dharamveer Singh Oberoi. The Minister for Higher Education Mr. Mohammad Akbar Lone also expressed his views on the reference.
Later, two minutes silence was observed as a mark of respect to the departed legislators.
