Jammu, Nov 28: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed Monday said the coalition government led by National Conference has lost the trust of the people and its credibility slumped to a new low after the mysterious death of Syed Yousuf Shah alias Haji Yousuf. He also demanded an impartial probe into the death of Yousuf.
 Addressing the party’s executive committee meeting of Jammu province here today,
 Mufti accused the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on fuelling trust deficit in the state.
 “Chief Minister’s announcements on constitution of truth and reconciliation commission, revocation of AFSPA from some districts within days and implementation of rehabilitation policy for youth who want to return from across the LoC turned out just political gimmicks,” he said and added that it is because of these publicity stunts that the credibility of this government has plummeted to the lowest ebb.
 He also took on the Chief Minister for “eroding the credibility of vital institutions” like State Accountability Commission (SAC), State Vigilance Commission (SVO) and District Development Boards (DDBs), alleging these have virtually been rendered “non-functional”.
 “There is no institution in the state that is functioning. The DDBs have been made non-functional. The institutions like SAC, SIC and SVO were also kept defunct for years together. The elections to urban local bodies (municipal corporations and municipal committees) had been pending since February 2009 but the government seems to be reluctant to conduct polls,” the PDP chief alleged.
 He further flayed the ruling dispensation, saying “the people are the worst sufferers of misgovernance and trust deficit”. “The misgovernance, rampant corruption and trust deficit has increased alienation among the people of the state,” he added.
 Demanding an impartial probe into the mysterious death of Haji Yousuf, PDP patron  questioned the “double standards” being adopted by the UPA government as well as the civil society vis-à-vis the “gruesome incident.”
 “Somebody has filed a case in Supreme Court seeking CBI inquiry into the death of NC worker but the Congress chief spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi is the lawyer in that case. Similarly, Anna Hazare has launched campaign against corruption in the country but they have maintained silence over glaring instances of political corruption in Jammu and Kashmir. Why these double standards?” Mufti asked.
 Demanding that case regarding mysterious killing of NC worker should be handed over to an independent investigative agency, Mufti questioned the Chief Minister’s authority to order the arrest of three NC workers who were allegedly involved in “political-payoffs”.
 “Was the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah competent to order the arrest of those three persons? Was the IG Crime competent to take them to jail? In 2010, 120 persons were killed, not even a single inquiry was conducted in those cases,” he maintained.
 He further asked, “If leaders of this party are taking money from own workers to make them MLCs and ministers, one can imagine how leaders of NC would be treating the common masses?”
 Mufti mocked at the Chief Minister’s decision for probe into the NC worker’s death through one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) headed by former SC judge H S Bedi, saying, “I don’t know what evidences Justice Bedi would look in this case? Chief Minister transferred his personal staff with one stroke and even the evidences have already been fudged.  Bedi’s investigation will be totally blank and incomplete if he does not have investigating arms to probe all these aspects”.
 Demanding handing over the case to an independent investigation agency, he quoted the famous English phrase “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion”, adding, needle of suspicion is towards those who are at the helm of the affairs and their credibility is at stake.
 Highlighting the achievements of PDP-Congress regime in the state, Mufti said that with the strength just 16 members in the Assembly, PDP had not only changed political discourse in Jammu and Kashmir but also changed history of the sub-continent by sheer political conviction.
 “Although we had just 16 members in the Assembly, our party had convinced successive governments at Delhi to take some bold Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) to restore lasting peace in this region”, he said.
 Reiterating his commitment to aggressively pursue the pro-peace agenda, Mufti said that his aim is to make Jammu and Kashmir an island of peace and a bridge between India and Pakistan to establish lasting peace in this region.
 Former Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Karra, Rangil Singh, T S Bajwa, Balbir Singh, Ved Mahajan, Daman Bhasin, Shanti Devi, Sardar Rafiq Hussain Khan, Choudhary Zulfikar, Falail Singh, Bharat Bhushan, Hussain Ali Bafa, all district presidents and other senior leaders addressed the executive committee meeting.
 Earlier after beginning of the meeting, a two minutes silence was observed in the memory of party leader Rehmatullah Malik, who lost his life in road accident some days back.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST