KL Report
Srinagar
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the execution of Afzal Guru and the manner of dealing with the fallout in Kashmir has resulted in reinforcement of the sense of denial of justice among the people here. In a statement Mehbooba said on Tuesday that there is a long standing grouse among the people in the state that they have been treated differently and unjustly at collective and individual levels when it came to application of law and constitution. She said, “Unfortunately this view has only been vindicated by the way and the myopic handling of Guru’s case and its impact on Kashmir.”
Mehbooba said while the long term repercussions of Afzal hanging would have to be observed carefully it is time that government of India revisited the entire approach to J&K and the problems faced by it.
“At present there is a clear perception that Guru has been hanged with political motives and Kashmir has been made a pawn in the electoral politics. This has added to feeling of alienation and is the antithesis of what is universally acknowledged as spirit of nationhood,” Mehbooba said.
The PDP president said the Guru execution comes in the background of thousands of unmarked graves, cold blooded killings by state on streets and in fake encounters, custodial deaths and unresolved disappearances. She added that Investigation in all these cases has either not been taken up at all or is stonewalled on one pretext or the other.
“The roots of alienation lie in this application of double standards and unless it is addressed with boldness and an open mind it would be difficult to resolve Kashmir through selective application of law and that too in distinctly unholy manner as in case of Guru,” she added.
Demanding that the curfew be lifted immediately from entire Kashmir, Mehbooba said Kashmir alone has the dubious distinction of facing mass imprisonment anywhere in the country. She said some daily wage earners were on the verge of starvation while the level of provision availability was depleting. She said the martial law type restrictions are unknown to all parts of the Country including the Naxalites infested areas and urged complete lifting of news blackout.
“Does this government feel by banning newspapers, cable TV, Internet nobody would know of the hanging of Afzal Guru?” She said adding “unfortunately it has already taken its psychological toll on a shocked population and with the tyrannical approach of this government it could only become more severe.”
