STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday witnessed noisy scenes, sloganeering and verbal duels between opposition, which demanded suspension of business to discuss the Kashmir situation, and BJP that sought action against rival parties for showing disrespect to the National Anthem.
As the House gathered, a united opposition of National Conference, Congress, CPI (M) and other Kashmir-based Independent MLAs held protests over deaths during the five- month long unrest in the Valley and gave an adjournment motion to the Speaker to discuss the “urgent” Kashmir situation in the House.
Some opposition members carrying black banners shouted slogans and held protests over the deaths in Kashmir, arrests and injuries due to pellet guns. BJP raised the issue of “disrespect” shown to the National Anthem during the Governor’s address on Monday.
The Opposition and BJP members trooped into the Well of the House and engaged in verbal duels for more than 10 minutes.
Intervening, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri said the government is ready to discuss the situation in Kashmir if the Opposition is interested in holding a debate on the same. Speaker Kavinder Gupta agreed to the discussion and asked Leader of Opposition Omar Abdullah to commence it.
Meanwhile, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah demanded that Mehbooba Mufti resign for adopting a “casual” approach and taking wrong steps to control the situation during the unrest in the Valley.
“Do you find yourself responsible for the situation?… If anyone is responsible for it, it is you and your government,” he said in the state Assembly.
Abdullah said the chief minister has not right to continue if she was unwilling to take responsibility.
“You do not have any right to sit on the chief minister’s chair if you are unwilling to take responsibility for the situation. The leader has to own his mistakes and learn from it,” he said.
The former J&K chief minister said when the news of the killing of three militants, including Burhan Wani, trickled in, “from the experience we have, we got to know the situation was not good”.
“When you heard that one of those killed was Burhan Wani, did you analyse the situation properly? What was your preparation? When we talked to the officers, we came to know that a casual approach was adopted to deal with the situation,” he said.
“Surprisingly, the situation was by and large normal where Wani was buried but the rest of the Valley was on fire. Wrong steps were taken one after another.
“There was no governance and it was not known whether the situation was being handled from Srinagar or New Delhi.
Different statements came from different people who had nothing to do with the situation,” he said.
The ADG of CID had told a press conference that the chief minister, who also holds the home portfolio, was informed about the encounter, the NC leader said.
“We want to know how much the chief minister was aware of the situation and what steps she took after that,” he said.
The situation worsened after July 8. People died and many were injured. After a few days, the chief minister said accountability would be fixed if excessive force was used. But she said parents should control their children and keep them at home, he said. “We know it is difficult to control kids after a certain age, but shifting government’s responsibilities to others is not justified. I am aware that when a reply would come from treasury benches, they would refer to 2008 and 2010.
“You cannot compare 2008 and 2010 to 2016. I have never held anybody else responsible for 2010. I never blame the parents of those kids for that situation,” Omar said.
He said he never blamed Pakistan or his officers for the violence in 2010 and did not make anyone a scapegoat or point fingers at Opposition.
