Srinagar, June 22: The president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, on Tuesday described recent comments of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on deteriorating situation in the Valley as “insensitive and provocative.”
“Omar Abdullah presents the image of a man fighting with his tools,” Mehbooba said in a statement.
Responding to the Chief Minister’s accusations about his political opponents being involved in fomenting trouble in Srinagar and terming the brutal killing of Javed Ahmed Malla as “suicidal,” she said, “Blaming Javed for his own killing and at the same time ordering an inquiry the Chief Minister is clearly showing his inability to come out of his Shopian mindset.”
“In Shopian tragedy he started off with the theory of death by drowning and then used State apparatus to deny justice and prove himself right, and today he has repeated the same strategy to cover up broad day killings in the capital city,” she said.
Mehbooba said the “so called” magisterial inquiry is a futile exercise as the Chief Minister has already given his verdict in favour of the trigger happy forces.
The PDP president said in a matter of 18 months Omar Abdullah’s coalition had exposed the state to the “worst face” of a government both on political and governance fronts.
Mehbooba said on the one hand the government had failed to strike a chord with the people on governance while on the other it was using “draconian” methods to silence protest against misgovernance. “The political structure of the ruling party has collapsed completely resulting in the paralysis of the administration as well,” she said.
Mehbooba said that Srinagar has become the worst victim of this systemic failure. “Security forces are the only contact point of the National Conference with common man. In such a situation Omar needs no one to conspire against him,” she added.
Expressing amazement at the Chief Minister’s “lack of understanding of ground realities,” Mehbooba said only a “naïve” ruler could have related the grave situation prevailing in the state with the transfer of a district level police officer. She reminded Omar that his grudging acknowledgement of some officer’s “good performance” during the PDP rule owed itself to the atmosphere of hope and reconciliation generated under Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s leadership which the present government has completely dismantled.
She said with the same administration and officers the PDP in its brief tenure had shown how governments can transform bleak situations into promise and participation if they work above petty personal interests and egos. The present government presents a perfect opposite of that and it is a pity that the chief minister instead of improving his performance was busy blaming everybody except his own ways, she added.
In the context of the latest revelations about the killing of two more persons in fake encounters in Machhil, Mehbooba said these had unfortunately proved correct the worst apprehensions about all such incidents. She said the people in Kashmir were on the edge and it seems the government they voted to power has completely surrendered their democratic right to raise the issue or ensure security of the common man. Condemning the murders she reiterated her party’s demand for revocation of AFSPA.
Mehbooba expressed her dismay over the reported excesses of forces on the inmates of the physical education college at Ganderbal. She said the shameful incident in the Chief Minister’s constituency only underlined the rot in general situation in the state.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST