by Saima Bhat

SRINAGAR: Reacting to the claims that J&K Assembly is the most powerful assembly in India, independent Lawmaker MLA Langate Er Rasheed said that if it had been really so then Nirmal Singh would have taken oath as the Sadr-e-Riyasat and not as the Speaker.

While speaking in the daylong session of Assembly for the elections of the speaker, Er Rasheed raised strong objections the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s statement regarding cease-fire and the resolution to Kashmir dispute.

“If India claims to be the democracy and by saying that Kashmiris will never get Aazadi, General Rawat has crossed his domain as Kashmir issue doesn’t need recognition either from State Assembly or from any Army General or somebody else, to be called a dispute,” Rasheed shouted.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti briefing the media after the all-party meeting was over. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur

He also termed the statement as painful and asked: How can an Army general reject the idea of ceasefire? He suggested the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti use her power as the head of the state. “We will accompany you to New Delhi. If they don’t accept your offer then it is better for you to step down. You have to take a stand because you have to answer the Kashmiri people, to yourself and to the God.”

“The reason why Army and other institutions are not taking all parties meeting seriously is the fact that except AIP, no one from the main political parties spoke even a word about a ceasefire,” Rasheed claimed. “Neither Sagar Sahab who spoke on behalf of NC nor the Chief Minister herself uttered a word on ceasefire during the meeting but it was strange that just to befool Kashmiris and the world community both the parties claimed before media of having talked about a ceasefire.”

Rasheed also lashed out at Rajiv Jasrotia, the newly designated Forest Minister and the other BJP members who participated in the rallies of Hindu Ekta Manch. He questioned Mehbooba Mufti that how Rajiv Jasrotia, who participated in the rally, be allowed to be part of her cabinet when she claimed to have taken a moral high ground while throwing Lal Singh and Chandra Prakash out of the cabinet.

Meanwhile, the opposition leader Omar Abdullah also questioned the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s call of calling an all-party meet following her ally, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rejection of her demand for Ramadhan Ceasefire in Kashmir.

Taking to social networking site Twitter, Omar wrote: “What was the point of @MehboobaMufti calling an all-party meeting to build a consensus around initiatives in Kashmir when her ally in the Govt doesn’t agree with her! Yet she will shamelessly cling to power because that’s all that matters to her.”

Earlier Jammu and Kashmir spokesperson of the BJP, Sunil Sethi has reportedly said that his party is in “complete disagreement” to consider a unilateral ceasefire during the month of Ramadhan.

“We are in complete disagreement and the chief minister cannot pressure us on this. It is not going to do any good. The Army’s operations to neutralize militants have been successful. We cannot appeal to the Centre to go down on its knees. Talks happen when both parties are on equal ground,” Sethi was quoted by Delhi based news portal The Print as having said.

After the conclusion of the all-party meet in Srinagar yesterday, Mehbooba had said all parties vouched for “unilateral ceasefire on the lines of Vajpayee” at the all-party meet.

The JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik has also reacted to the statement of Army chief and called it self-contradictory and most illogical. Terming it a threat, Malik said General Rawat wants Kashmiris to surrender before Indian might without even realizing that many Generals before him failed to achieve this wishful goal. Malik said Rawat has threatened Kashmiris of more force which is “unmasking” the democracy.

Malik said that his reply to General Rawat is same that Gandhi Ji had replied to a British envoy that how can how can poor Indians fight British military might and survive as an independent state without British help, Gandhi Ji had replied that he would prefer a non-competent poor independent country over a competent and wealthy illegal occupation and slavery.

He said that throughout history we see imperialist powers using the same language of intimidation against subjugated nations like Bipin Rawat is using against Kashmiris.

The APHC (m) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also reacted to the General’s statements by saying: His threat to bomb Kashmir like Syria is real but so is the resilience of people to stand by their commitment to achieving the universal right to freedom and self-determination for which they have been consistently struggling for the last 70 years and hugely sacrificing. Army chiefs come and go. But the commitment made by both Indian and Pakistani leadership at the UN and ratified by the world to the people of Kashmir stands and gives the current situation its context.”

Mirwaiz suggested the army chief ask of his political bosses the basic question: “Why does a regular army need to be stationed here in streets, villages on roads outside people’s homes in such huge numbers? Why are people supporting and sacrificing their life for young boys who leave bright careers and pick up arms? Why are the educated boys who know the strength and number of the forces still choose to take this path? Why are his men being made the cannon fodder and paying the price with their lives in an issue which he too admits is not military?”

The armed chief acknowledges that killing one youth with arms will make ten others pick it up why.

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