Jammu, Oct 19: President of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday welcomed the possibility of New Delhi entering into parleys with separatists.  
 “Kashmir has suffered a lot due to turmoil in past two decades. And we need to find a peaceful solution for the problem. If we want that Kashmir should stop bleeding then we need to find a solution as soon as possible,” she told reporters at the sidelines of a rally here.
 “If Kashmir bleeds, the country will also bleed. The growing possibility for talks between two sides is a welcome step and the New Delhi should utilize this opportunity in right manner,” she added.
 She demanded that the State Accountability Commission (SAC) should take suo-moto cognizance of “sensational killing” of National Conference worker Syed Muhammad Yousuf for “political payoffs”.
 “The SAC should take the cognizance of the Chief Minister’s statements and happenings  that occurred at his residence in the wake of Syed Yousuf’s killing. This is political corruption at its worst,” said Mehbooba.
 She alleged that the anti-corruption bodies in the state like SAC and State Vigilance Organization (SVO) have “lost their essence” in the aftermath of  Syed Yousuf’s  killing, saying they (SAC and SVO) were otherwise also seen hankering after poor patwaris and clerks.
 “Omar Abdullah would have been in jail like former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyruppa and former chief minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan if there would have been rule of law in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mehbooba said.
 She regretted that there was a “tragedy” with Jammu and Kashmir as there was no “accountability at political level” in this state which “leads to reversal of democratic processes and erosion of democratic institutions” despite people of this state having reposed faith in the same time and again.
 Mehbooba alleged that Syedd Yousuf’s death deprived Omar government of its “last fig leaf”. “It took lid off the stinking nature of this government. If Syed had not died in unfortunate circumstances we might never have known about the dark realities of this government and the NC family. What the people thought about them is now confirmed,” she added.
 Mehbooba termed the judicial probe into the alleged “custodial death” of Syed Yousuf  by a sitting High Court judge as “mere eyewash” and questioned, “Where is the probe? 
 “Omar Abdullah is now just struggling to survive on day to day basis and he has outsourced the governance to bureaucracy and police,” she said, adding “the ruling dispensation is most inefficient, insensitive and corrupt dispensation that the state has ever had”.
 She mocked at the Chief Minister for engaging himself in “saving his chair 24x7”.  “In the process government is falling apart with all ministers running their departments as personal properties. And it was the mis-governance and trust deficit which were the reasons for the last year’s five-month-long summer unrest,” Mehbooba charged.
 The PDP leader alleged the jobs were again on sale.  “Contracts are on sale. The state’s resources are on sale for protecting power for the Abdullah family.
 She alleged the government had been rattled by series of corruption scams--be it cross voting by BJP MLAs in favour of NC candidates, strike of employees for more than a month against mismanagement and corruption in Auqaf or cricket association where crores have been withdrawn on self drawn cheques.
 Responding to a question whether the NC’s coalition partner—Congress was shielding Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba said: “I have grudges with not only the centre government but also the other parties like BJP which are fighting against the corruption”.
 Taking a dig at the Congress ministers, Mehbooba said the Speaker’s attitude in Legislative Assembly was “biased” while other ministers were enjoying it. “Even the BJP MLAs didn’t say anything because they regularly get money from National Conference,” she alleged.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST