Government has failed to govern: Mehbooba

Srinagar, Feb 8: Peoples Democratic Party president has said the Chief Minister’s ‘faryaad to the central government’ was an acknowledgement of his failure to govern the state.
 Referring to the reported plea of Omar Abdullah to the Union Home Ministry to help him in nabbing the killers of the innocent Nishat teenager Zahid Farooq, Mehbooba wondered whether ‘this was a repetition of the Shopian investigation drama.’ She said as in-charge of the law and order and as custodian of the life and property of its people, the state government cannot escape direct responsibility for the protection of the citizens.
 “While the wounds of Shopian and a number of other innocent killings including those of Inayat and Wamiq were fresh, the state government seems to be trying to wash its hands off the unpardonable crime in Brain, Nishat, by knocking at Delhi’s door,” she said.
 Mehbooba said it seems people of the state, particularly Srinagar were left to their fate that was scripted by the security and police forces alone. “The so-called representatives of Srinagar only tried to please their political masters by making statements irrelevant to the situation. There is no element of civil administration visible except for occasional denials of the imposition of curfew while for more than a week the people of Srinagar were confined to their homes, she said, adding that Srinagar had been converted into a prison, essentials were not available and people suffered for food and medicines. Even babies were denied milk, she said.
 The PDP president said the ruling NC had historically taken the people of Srinagar for a ride and its politicians thrived for decades on its emotional exploitation. “These politicians,” she said, “had now completely got isolated and had no connect with the people and were ignorant about their problems and aspirations.”
 She said this exploitation could not continue for ever and things would turn even hotter for the ruling clique than what they faced at Brain if they failed to appreciate the reasons for current anger and did not stop their repressive methods. She said the promise of punishing the killers of Zahid sounded cruelly like the pronouncement to catch the rapists and murderers of Shopian in 48 hours.
 Mehbooba said unless a wholesome review was made of the Kashmir policy by the centre it was not possible to assuage the hurt feelings of the people here and find a lasting solution to our problems. Forces had to be thinned out from civilian areas and the AFSPA revoked completely to instil confidence among people of J&K.
 She said the writ and relevance of the state government had shrunk so much that the administration here by its own admission had no knowledge about anything be that the killers of Shopian, Bumai, Khaigam and other places and now Nishat, or the award of a Padma Shri to Moma Kana. “It is for the coalition government itself to ponder over the situation and look for a fair answer to the questions about its total loss of credibility,” she added.