SRINAGAR: Within hours after landing in Srinagar, Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti took to twitter asking the other stakeholders to shed differences and join heads and help the youth.
“The violence from yesterday is a grim reminder of the fact that at times like these we must shed our differences & come together to think of new ways to reach out to the youth & find sustainable solutions to end the dreadful cycle of violence that is consuming them endlessly,” Ms Mufti wrote in one of the two message from her Twitter account.
“Every day it breaks my heart to see a wailing mother beckoning her son to return. So can we leave aside our accusations & counter accusations, put our heads together to save these young ones.”
The tweets came within hours after she flew to Srinagar from Delhi, where she spent three days. After her arrival, late evening, officials said she had one on one meetings with a number of officers. She also talked to district officers and top officers in the security grid.
Officials said Chief Minister is most likely to preside over a meeting on Tuesday in which the security situation is expected to be reviewed.
For the last two days, her predecessor Omar Abdullah shot a series of tweets questioning her continued absence from Kashmir at the most crucial time. “So while all this was unfolding the Chief Minister didn’t see fit to cut short her Delhi trip. What was so important to have kept her there?” Omar Abdullah wrote on his twitter.
This was reacted by her confidant, minister Naeem Akhter who took potshots on Omar’s travels in his term as the Chief Minister. “She is not holidaying in Europe or Phuket..has been monitoring,” Akhter wrote.
“It’s amazing how @MehboobaMufti has accepted her irrelevance in Kashmir today. More than 24 hours after 3 fierce encounters & numerous deaths she still hasn’t arrived back in Srinagar,” Omar reacted. “n fact Gov Vohra arrived in Srinagar first thing in the morning while @MehboobaMufti was happily ensconced in her plush Delhi bungalow.”
To this was Akhter’s response: “Sad how seniors instead of contributing to a resolution discourse have reduced themselves to keeping a logbook of opponents. BTW she is here. Good that former CM also is.”
Interestingly, when Chief Minister finally landed in Srinagar, she did not get into the tweet-match. Skipping all this, she is seeking support to “find sustainable solutions to end the dreadful cycle of violence.”
The Shopan killings came within two days after the government indicated a willingness to offer some space to its ideological opponents, read the separatists. On Friday, all the Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, for the first time in eight years, was in a mosque to offer prayers. But the “space” was denied instantly. On Monday, Geelani was prevented from offering funeral prayers in absentia to the slain in Shopian. Ashraf Seharie was restricted to his home and Yasin Malik was again driven to Central Jail in Srinagar.
The Hurriyat call to protest has now been extended for Tuesday. All educational institutions and business activities are expected to remain closed.
