Senior National Conference leaders on Sunday expressed anguish over excesses committed on peaceful demonstrators in Jammu yesterday and assailed the PDP-BJP coalition for showing scant regard for democratic norms and civilised behaviour.
“It is intriguing that instead of conceding the just demand of the people being projected by the civil society with regard to establishment of a full-fledged AIIMS in Jammu, the government chose to crack down on them by using excessive force”, the leaders said in a joint statement, while cautioning the administration against the anti-people approach.
They said that National Conference has from day one hailed the decision to set up AIIMS in Kashmir and called for a separate AIIMS for Jammu. “However, the Centre and the coalition government, especially the BJP has been shying away from this important issue”, the NC leaders said and sought immediate sanctioning of AIIMS Jammu to satiate the urges and aspirations of the people.
Prominent among the signatories to the joint statement included State Vice President Mr Rattan Lal Gupta and Th Kashmira Singh, Chairman SC/BC Wing Babu Rampal, Provincial Vice Presidents Brij Mohan Sharma, Jugal Mahajan, Gurdeep Singh Sasan, Anil Dhar and others.