National Conference on Thursday lashed out at the Chief Minister for her continued “theatrical tendency to lie, deflect responsibility and spread canards” as the head of a Government that remains “invisible, ineffective and unmoved” by dozens of killings and mass grief in the Valley.
NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani said it was “ironic and ridiculous” that the Chief Minister was terming Burhan Wani’s killing a “coincidence” while simultaneously “having released lakhs of rupees as reward money from the CM’s secret fund for those who took part in the encounter”.
“If Mehbooba Mufti is deluded into thinking that she can try to make a case that she wasn’t aware of the encounter where a special team was dispatched from Srinagar to neutralize Burhan Wani, she is living in her usual fool’s paradise. Sometimes she says she wasn’t informed of the encounter, and then she discloses it was a ‘coincidence’ only to simultaneously release lakhs of money from the CM’s secret fund as a reward for those who took part in the encounter. This is a cruel joke from a completely clueless CM,” the NC Provincial President said in a statement issued from Party Headquarters in Srinagar on Thursday.
The NC Provincial President also condemned the insensitive and inappropriate statement from DG CRPF that supported the continued use of pellet guns despite their disastrous implications that have resulted in the blinding and maiming of hundreds of young boys and girls in the Valley and termed the State Government’s conspicuous silence on this development as shameless.
“Are we living in a democracy or are we living in an Orwellian tyrannical system where the security forces and paramilitary forces will decide on policy matters? The Union Home Minister has already failed all expectations in this matter by choosing to not order a ban on pellet guns and now this has clearly emboldened other voices that remain unmoved at the sight of our blinded young boys and girls,” the NC Provincial President further added.
“The Chief Minister rather than investing all her efforts in her photo-opportunities and in trying to fool the people should try to gather at least some leftovers of a sense of responsibility and focus on a systemic, appropriate response. This state of chaos, confusion and deflection of responsibility peppered with daily contradictions that expose the Chief Minister’s hypocrisy cannot be an alternate for governance. There is a complete breakdown of all systems of governance and accountability in the State and the Chief Minister, in a desperate attempt to escape culpability has repeatedly tried to pretend she is being by-passed – even by her own colleagues. This is tragic and ridiculous,” Nasir Aslam Wani added.
The NC Provincial President also condemned the State Government’s “exposed illegitimate snooping” on the opposition party and its Spokesperson and added such brazen subversion of democracy in a sensitive State like J&K would have far reaching adverse implications.
“This is clear intimidation and yet another proof of an insecure, inefficient and insensitive Chief Minister trying to suppress democratic voices in the system. She is intolerant as always of criticism and dissent and the recent harrowing situation in the Valley has failed to churn a process of introspection in her. The opposition will continue to highlight the insensitivity, failure and hypocrisy of this Chief Minister and her opportunistic, inefficient Government. All efforts of snooping and gagging are futile,” the NC Provincial President further stated.
