Srinagar,June 17: Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti Thursday visited the bereaved family of Tufail Ahmed Mattoo who lost his life last week in police action. “The purpose of her visit was to convey her condolence to the family especially the parents of the teenaged boy,” a handout issued by PDP spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, Mehbooba and her colleagues were denied meeting with the parents and other family members of late Tufail.“They were told by some persons not to attempt meeting the family. Although some ladies in the house tried to meet Mehbooba but they were apparently prevented from doing so,” the spokesman said.
Regretting the inability of PDP president to meet and console the parents of Tufail in their hour of extreme pain and grief, the spokesman said it was against the social and religious norms. The visit, he said was purely social in nature and in line with our culture of sharing grief on such occasions.
“Mehbooba later visited another victim of state brutality Rafiq Ahmed Bangroo who is undergoing treatment at SKIMS,” the spokesman said adding the condition of Bangroo continues to be a cause of concern for his family and doctors. In view of the expensive treatment of Bangroo, Mehbooba urged the government to fully provide for it and help the family with a special relief package.
The spokesman said whatever the reasons for preventing Mehbooba from meeting late Tufails’ family, “it underlines a fresh bout of radicalization taking roots among people.” “Today’s incident seen in continuation with the unfortunate events at Tufail’s funeral at Eidgah point to what passé the NC led coalition had once again brought Kashmir,” he said and added that the entire political class seems to be once again getting marginalized in the city as a result of NC’s failure to represent the people it claims to represent in Assembly and Parliament.
The spokesman said it was sad that the party that had exploited Srinagar city for the last eighty years and has all the eight members of Assembly from it apart from the MP has no political presence here.
Condemning the indiscriminate arrest of young men and respectables of various localities, the spokesman said it indicated a total bankruptcy of ideas the government is suffering from. He demanded immediate release of those kept inside police stations without any evidence against them.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST