Aharbal (Islamabad), June 3: Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has urged government of India to review its incentive policy for security forces in view of the repeated instances of murder for medals, rewards and promotions.
Addressing PDP card holder’s convention of Noorabad constituency at Aharbal Thursday Mufti said the government must review the policy of rewards and promotions based on encounters. “Such an announcement could help create an atmosphere conducive to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s upcoming visit, as the sentiments of the people in the state are deeply hurt by the staged killings in the name of encounters”, he said. This could be an important and timely confidence building measure he said.
Reiterating the party’s demand for revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and demilitarization of civilian areas, Mufti said it is time for changing glacial mindsets on Kashmir. He said the reports of fake encounters had created a credibility crisis among the people and it was in the interest of the security forces themselves to remove the blot. “J&K has to be an equal and respectable partner in the democratic system and for that it is essential for the armed forces to disengage themselves from civilian matters,” he said and added over-militarization has had negative fallout on the society which needs to be neutralized.
Mufti said the people of the state had endorsed the democratic system through their overwhelming participation in the elections in the hope of a matching response from the government of India. Such a response, he said had not been forthcoming and instead the human rights situation had touched a new low. He said the civil society institutions have to be provided full independence of action and that can be done only if the security forces become accountable for their actions as in other parts of the country. “With relations between India and Pakistan showing signs of a revival it would be necessary that the people of J&K feel the positive effect of this development and that could happen only if the AFSPA is revoked”, he added.
Mufti said the working groups appointed by the Prime Minister himself had recommended withdrawal of troops from civilian areas and the revocation of AFSPA. Their endorsement of the PDP demand only established its genuineness, Mufti said. He repeated his assertion that the relations between the state and the union should not be symbolized by the soldier and his gun, which was an unfortunate fact and the antithesis of the ethos of India as the largest democracy.
Addressing the gathering senior party leader Tariq Hameed Karra accused the present government of having failed on all fronts of governance. He said the state was going through a nightmare because of the waywardness of its political bosses. He said on the one hand fake encounters have become an industry as revealed by a recent exposure and on the other government after denying existence of counter-stone pelting force has acknowledged the move. “This incompetent government is leading the state to a virtual civil war after having lost control on political and development fronts and the people must respond to it through peaceful and democratic means,” he said.
He said India and Pakistan cannot further delay the peace process without risking another cycle of alienation and anger in Kashmir. He said the two countries must work with political will and determination to open a new chapter in the state that would empower the common man here.
Senior PDP leader Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari said the national conference had repeatedly let down the state in the past and was doing it again now at the head of the present coalition. He said the party was responsible for the sell out of the hydel and power resources of the state which need to be retrieved through renegotiation of terms with the NHPC. He said the state had been pushed to begging while the centre utilized its resources for the benefits of its single corporation.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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