Jammu, Mar 4: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to intervene in stopping repression in the state and restoring civil liberties of people especially the youth.
Interacting with the Prime Minister here Friday PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, according to a party handout, informed Dr Singh about “the human rights crisis that the state government had created as a result of its repressive actions and denial of constitutional rights.”
She was accompanied by senior party leaders, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Thakur Balbir Singh, Sardar Rangil Singh and T S Bajwa.
Mehbooba, according to the handout, told the Prime Minister that unless a congenial atmosphere was created in the state, well-meaning initiatives like the internal dialogue or resumption of Indo-Pak talks will fail to takeoff.  “You will have to address the concerns of  the people of Jammu and Kashmir and ensure their democratic rights to see your dream of resolving Kashmir materialize” she told Dr Singh.
 Mehbooba said while the PDP and other parties including Hurriyat Conference were demanding release of detainees including youth, revocation of AFSPA and Disturbed Area Act and reduction of forces from the civilian areas, “the state government had created a stone wall of repression and revenge against all voices of concern and peace.” She said unless these fundamental issues are addressed which now constitute the political middle ground of the state, it would be futile to hope for restoration of normalcy for which the people of the state had repeatedly reposed their trust in political process.
 The PDP president said even after the visit of the all party delegation to the state and announcement of eight point agenda, the government had not taken a single step towards rebuilding confidence of the people. “While hopes had been raised that the government would reach out to the deeply bruised people of Kashmir who had seen their innocent youngsters falling to the bullets of the state, nothing has been done in that direction” she told the Prime Minister and regretted that instead the mourners of the dead, their kith and kin and their friends were been indiscriminately arrested.
 Inviting the attention of Dr Singh to the choking political conditions in the state Mehbooba said NC, true to its traditions was trying to forcibly silence all voices of opposition within the mainstream. “The NC was again using state repression to push the youth to the wall, generate a hostile atmosphere and strengthen the sentiment of separatism,” she said adding the PDP would continue to utilize the democratic space, even though it had been squeezed by the NC, to channelize the aspirations of the people and highlight their problems.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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