- ‘Multifold increase in pellet-guns shows no lessons learnt’
- ‘PDP’s deliberate silence on Sakshi Mahraj’s comments shameful’
National Conference Working President and MLA Beerwah, Omar Abdullah Friday said PDP’s “continued subservience” to the BJP was alarming and could have long-lasting adverse implications on the State and its stability.
Addressing party functionaries and workers in Beerwah, Omar said the multi-fold increase in number of pellet guns from around 600 to now around 6,000 showed that the present government had chosen to not learn any lessons from the recent unrest and the devastating effect of pellet guns when hundreds of young kids lost partial or complete eyesight.
“We all remember Mehbooba Ji’s statements and press conferences on the use of pellet guns when she was in the opposition. Unfortunately, despite the enormous and staggering human costs of using these guns that we witnessed in 2016, Mehbooba Ji remains unmoved as the number of pellet guns are expected to go up from around 600 to around 6000 now. Imagine the height of hypocrisy and shamelessness that this Government has the audacity to not only continue with the use of pellet guns but also increase their number ten-fold. Making customary offers of donating her eyes to pellet guns cannot absolve Mehbooba Ji of this new U-turn,” the NC Working President said at the sidelines of the party event.
The NC Working President also expressed disappointment at PDP’s “deliberate and deafening silence” on comments made by senior BJP leader and its Member of Parliament, Sakshi Maharaj who had recently remarked that there was no place for Muslims to be buried in India and they should be cremated.
“Such is the extent and depth of PDP’s sell-out to the BJP that they can’t even muster the courage to oppose Sakshi Maharaj’s statement denigrating Muslims and questioning their right to be buried in accordance to their religious rights and rituals. PDP is a partner of the BJP and its silence in the face of such brazen statements means that PDP is a part and parcel of such communal programs that are aimed at harassing and intimidating minorities in order to derive political dividends in elections around the country,” the NC Working President said while answering questions raised by the media on the sidelines of the party function.
Omar said these remarks were deliberate attempts to intimidate and harass Muslims and use polarization as a political tool to benefit BJP in ongoing elections.
“While BJP has its own plans and goals to polarize people and use that as a tactic in the ongoing elections, why is PDP silent? Is it too much to ask to expect the Chief Minister of India’s only Muslims majority State to stand up and speak up for the democratic and constitutional rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir? We all know what Mehbooba Ji would have done in the face of such comments had she been in the opposition,” the NC Working President added.
Political Secretary to Working President Tanvir Sadiq and Senior NC Leader Professor Abdul Majeed Matoo were also present on the occasion.
