Jammu, Mar 28:  The Legislative Assembly today witnessed heated argument between former deputy chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Muzaffar Hussain Baig after National Conference (NC) member Mir Saifullah alleged that Baig was directly involved in transfer of land to the Amarnath shrine.
 Participating in the discussion on grants of departments under Chief Minister, Saifullah alleged that two ministers of PDP were solely responsible for the transfer of land, which created law and order problem in the state.
 However, he was snubbed by Baig, who said he had only given opinion for non-application of Supreme Court guidelines and Central Forest Act in the transfer of land to Railway which has been used as opinion for transfer of land in that case.
 “I will resign from the House if charges are proved against me. The allegations by Saifullah are totally wrong and misleading. There was no transfer of land to Amarnath Shrine Trust, but land was specified for the smooth conduct of yatra to the cave shrine,” Baig said.
 However, he was interrupted by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Sagar who said that then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad had on record said that transfer of land was recommended by two ministers.
 “Azad Saab had given a press conference during which he said that land was transferred to shrine. It is a recorded fact”, Sagar said.
 Countering him, Baig said that Azad had referred the issue of railway land transfer and no land was transferred to anyone. “You provide the evidence and Speaker sir, I will resign from the assembly”, said Baig.
 Earlier, Mir Saifullah alleged that PDP has no moral authority to raise its finger towards the coalition government as corruption, backdoor appointments and human rights violations were rampant during its regime.
 Referring to Kundal Commission report, he said that Commission appointed by the then government indicted two ministers in forest scandal but instead of punishing them, PDP came to their rescue.
 “One government officer who was dismissed from service in rural development scam was honoured and made MLC by their party and given a constituency”, he alleged.
 He said that incidents of Bangargund, Wadipora, Handwara and massacres at Handwara, Kupwara, Hawal and Bijbehara where innocent people were killed are serious factual series of human rights violations that occurred during their regime.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 IST