Pulwama, Sep 13: Terming PDP’s claim of forming next government as another jingle of the opposition, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday said the people will judge parties and leaderships on performance. He said that politics of deceit is handiwork of PDP leadership to astray the people.
“From this rostrum in Pulwama before the mammoth public gathering, I challenge PDP leadership on this count. Their falsehood has got unveiled before masses and they have lost ground everywhere”, he added and said that people would judge the governments and parties on the basis of work done and not on mere slogan raising.
Addressing a largely attended public meeting here, the Chief Minister said that the performance report of PDP during its tenure of government is nothing but a card of failures and shortcomings on all the fronts. He said that the slogans of healing touch, peace with dignity, one government job to every household, etc fell flat on ground as PDP forgot all these and other promises made to people when it was in power. “This party forgot the promises made to gun wielding youth for fear of losing power”, he said adding that state assembly records are witness to casting of vote by PDP (when it was in power) against the Rehabilitation Bill moved by M Y Tarigami and was supported by National Conference to help rehabilitation of youth who had crossed LoC but not indulged in militancy.
“History is witness to the opportunism and selfishness exhibited by the PDP leadership time and again to relish power for their personal interests”, he said adding that every resident of the State is aware of the misgovernance that ruled the roost during the tenure when PDP was in power in the State. He said that blowing one’s own trumpet like PDP leadership and taking credit for others good actions cannot absolve this party from the damage it has done on developmental and political fronts to the State for the greed of sticking to power.
“By pointing fingers towards opponents and indulging in misinformation and disinformation campaign, suppressing facts and misreporting events may have helped PDP to deceive people in the past but this tactics cannot work now as the public especially youth force have understood PDP’s double-speak”, he said and added that the hidden pact and closeness between PDP and BJP was revealed when the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee requested Dr Farooq Abdullah not to dislodge Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s government when a good number of PDP MLAs had then lost faith in Mufti’s leadership and wanted to de-throne him.
The Chief Minister said the number of human rights violations in the PDP tenure and the significant decrease achieved on this front during the last three years of his government makes good comparison of the seriousness of the two governments in this regard. “They talk of healing touch, peace with dignity and what not but do nothing on ground. They instead hamper the return of youth from PaK and bring laws like AFSPA”, he said adding that his government is continuously working for revocation of AFSPA. “We have not only reduced the footprints of armed forces, removed bunkers but also brought in rehabilitation policy for return of youth from PaK”. He said they (PDP) talk too much, raise hollow slogans, deceive people by misrepresenting events but “we believe in performing silently for bringing peace, fast tracking development and working for resolution of political issues of Jammu and Kashmir”.
Reiterating that people will judge the leaderships and the parties on their work done, Omar Abdullah said that it was his government who initiated the process of delinking political issues from economic affairs. “It was me who categorically told the Prime Minister, the UPA Chairperson and other Central leadership at a huge public meeting in South Kashmir that ‘Kashmir issue’ cannot be resolved by economic measures”, he said adding that he made it clear that Kashmir issue is of political nature needing political addressing.
The Chief Minister said that he told the Central Government that Jammu and Kashmir is thankful for the economic support it received from the Centre for development programmes but there is need to address internal and external dimensions of Kashmir issue politically and through sustained dialogue process. “My continuous advocating and working on this aspect is showing positive results”, he added and said that working for talks between the State and the Centre and Indo-Pak sustained dialogue to address internal and external dimensions of Kashmir issue amicably will be his unabated endeavour.
Referring to the achievements his government has registered during last three and a half years in the State, Omar Abdullah said that the work done by his government on political and economic fronts itself speaks loud and clear adding that he would go to people with his performance report at the time of next election.
Omar Abdullah also presented resume of the important legislations his government has enacted to curb corruption, empower public and strengthen the institutions. He said public empowerment is the determination of his government and various measures have already been taken in this regard.
The Chief Minister said that in order to curb the corruption and ensure time line delivery of public services to the people, his government has enacted and implemented Public Service Guarantee Act which empowers common people to obtain public services from the government departments within the prescribed time frame adding that any laxity or failure on the part of government functionaries in delivery the service within the prescribed time limit makes him liable for fine which will be paid to the affected consumer. “This has brought topsy-turvy in the scenario and now consumer is master of the situation. He is empowered to get compensation out of the fine imposed on the official for not providing service within the fixed time limit”, he explained. The Chief Minister also referred to the implementation of Right to Information Act, reconstitution of Accountability Commission, Panchayat Election and other initiatives initiated for public empowerment by his government.
Saying that District Pulwama used to be the fortress of support to National Conference, Omar Abdullah asked the party rank and file to redress the grievances of people and rekindle their faith and trust in National Conference.
The public meeting was also addressed by Minister for Social Welfare, Sakina Itoo, Minister of State for R&B, Javid Ahmad Dar, Members of Parliament, Sharief-ud-Din Shariq, Dr Mehboob Baig, Ghulam Nabi Ratanpuri, Provincial President NC, Ali Muhammad Dar and MLC, Bashir Ahmad Veeri.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST