KL Desk
Sonawari
Accusing Omar Abdullah led coalition government for maligning the name of Indian democracy and constitutional system by depriving peaceful and respectable citizens, their liberty and fundamental rights, former deputy chief minister and senior leader of Peoples Democratic Party, Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Thursday said that the state government has deprived peaceful and respectable citizens their liberty and fundamental rights.
“This government has lowered the prestige of country’s judicial system and constitutional scheme by muzzling the voice of dissent and putting in jail elderly people and teenagers who should have been in schools and colleges,” Baig said.
While addressing public meeting at Naidkhah in Sonawari, Baig said dissention is a fundamental to everybody living in a democratic set up.
“In a modern democratic society, the right to dissent is one of the most fundamental rights. Right to debate or freedom of speech and the right to express dissent are the basic principles of a democracy. But unfortunately the present state government believes in muzzling dissent by way frequent detentions of youth and continuous house arrest of Hurriyat leaders,” Baig observed.
Highlighting the importance of resolving Kashmir issue, Baig said resolution of Kashmir issue is essential because there is a problem about Jammu and Kashmir and its denial creating more problems.
“Many quarters have been in a denial mode for long but that has only added to the complexity of the problem,” he remarked.
Terming the elections of 2002 as change, Baig said forces of peace and reconciliation encouraged after 2002 had helped in starting a peace process that could have led to its logical conclusion; the peaceful resolution of Kashmir problem.
Baig in his speech said that it was a blot on the country’s name that hundreds of people continue to be behind bars for the mere use of their right to express a dissenting view. “Many ideas about the state, its problems and resolution have been articulated from time to time which has resulted in uncertainty and miseries for people. But democracy is all about meeting an idea with a more creative idea which is in tune with the spirit and reality of present times,” Baig told the gathering.
He reiterated PDP’s belief that the institutions like the state Assembly and the Panchayats have an important role in articulating and channelizing the aspirations of the people.
“They are not any body’s proxies or rubberstamps,” he said and referred to the autonomy resolution passed by the state Assembly many years back.
Baig accused NC of Bartering away the autonomy resolution, “NC had bartered away even this resolution for a share in power but the fact remains that state Assembly has the authority and credibility to contribute to ultimate resolution,” Baig said.
