CPI (M) leader and MLA from Kulgam constituency Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami on Wednesday came down heavily on the government for booking separatist leader Masarat Alam under the Public Safety Act.
Speaking in the assembly during motion of thanks on the governor’s address, Tarigami said that Alam was “given a degree in PSAs.”
“Masarat Alam ne bahut badi degree haasil ki hai, PSA ki (Masarat has earned a degree in PSAs) and I am surprised that every day you release him but book him under another PSA,” he said.
He castigated the government for putting the separatist leaders under house detention.
“How long will you keep them (Geelani, Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik) under detention?” he asked.
He said that the government didn’t learn lessons from former prime minister of J&K Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq who had said that prolonged detentions will have adverse consequences for the state.
“It is a systematic failure, right from Delhi to Srinagar, to run the system properly,” Tarigami said.
“We are giving the authority, which should have been with this House, to a CRPF man,” he said, and asked: “Is there no other option with PM than (using) a ‘lathi?”
He questioned the “failure” of successive regimes in New Delhi and J&K for not undertaking a fruitful dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.
“If everyone is talking dialogue, then why it is not moving ahead? Mufti Sayeed talked, Mehbooba talks, Chidambaram talks about dialogue but I fail to understand why it is not being taken to its logical end,” Tarigami said. “No serious efforts are being made to solve the Kashmir issue.”
Talking about governance in J&K, he said that the government was taking credit of felicitating Insha Mushtaq after taking away her vision.
“There are dozens of Inshas and hundreds of our youngsters have faced (and continue to face) bullets and pellets in our state,” he said.
Tarigami mocked at the government and said that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is heading the unified high command, couldn’t impose a ban on use of pellets in Kashmir.
“There is a consensus in the House that there should be ban on use of pellets. You don’t have to seek permission from the union government, you can do so,” he told the House.
Tarigami came down heavily on the government for issuing a gag order on employees over use social media.
He took a dig at minister for power development department, saying that different centrally-sponsored schemes worth Rs 5000 crore were not launched.
TARIGAMI, ANSARI ENTER INTO ARGUMENT
Meanwhile, the lower house witnessed an exchange of heated argument between MY Tarigami and youth service and sports minister Imran Ansari after the latter asked the speaker to expunge the “rampant corruption” word from records of the House.
“If Tarigami sahab has any proof, he should present it here but not hit left, right and centre. Being ballistic is not good for democracy,” he told the House.
Tarigami earlier said that corruption was rampant in the civil secretariat but there are some honest people there as well.
“You can’t impose your words on me. Secretariat is witness to corruption,’ Tarigami said.
Ansari retorted saying that he was not addressing the members of any trade union but the members of the House.
“If somebody has no proof to defend himself, he should not say so,” he said.