Srinagar, June 24: Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti has said the ‘incompetence and ineptitude’ of the coalition government has resulted in the squeeze of political space and reversal of democratization process in the state.
Condemning the fresh wave of arrests in Kashmir in which political leaders and youth in large numbers have been detained under the PSA, she said draconian measures are a failed option and they could never be the substitute to a political engagement.
She said the detention of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Muhammad Yaseen Malik and other leaders, house arrest of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and ‘indiscriminate rounding up of youth on flimsy grounds’ have revived fully the atmosphere of terror prevailing in the state before 2002.
“In the process, the gains of post 2002 peace process have been wasted which reflects a resounding failure of Omar Abdullah government,” she said.
Mehbooba said the PDP had introduced politics of dialogue, discussion and debate in the state as it believed in battle of ideas which can be carried out only in a democratic atmosphere free from highhandedness.
Unfortunately, she said the Omar Abdullah government through its ‘narrow minded policies’ had created an atmosphere of confrontation in which the only visible government face was police and security forces at loggerheads with the common man. This confrontation had resulted in a spate of innocent killings, disruption of normal life and economic activity, she added.
The PDP president said the National Conference as an organization seemed to be collapsing all across the state, as a result of lack of leadership. While most people would not shed a tear for the marginalized party, she said its inability to govern had brought miseries to the common man. She said even the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had during his recent visit been forced to point to the inability of the state government to tackle issues of ration, power, roads and water.
Mehbooba said even as the people at large had given up on the present dispensation on governance front, what had caused worries among one and all is the renewed assault on civil liberties and right to life and property.
“The harassment of youth, silencing of political class through arrests and complete dependence on police has made the present government the most incompetent yet dreaded dispensation which could lead to further destabilization in the society,” Mehbooba said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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