KL Report
SRINAGAR
Days after Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik accused Congress high command of stopping him from distributing relief among earthquake victims of the erstwhile Doda district, ruling National Conference and Congress have started accusing each other for the decision.
Senior Congress leader from Jammu Gulchain Singh Charak had reportedly said that Yasin Malik should blame Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and not Congress. “Who is the head of the State? Who distributes relief and who is looking after the Home Department? Obviously, it is the Chief Minister, who is at the helm of affairs. So, Malik should blame him and not Congress party,” he had said.
Reacting to Charak’s allegations, National Conference (NC) Additional General Secretary Dr Mustafa Kamal rejected the allegations of Charak. “It is their (Congress’s) old habit that they decide in advance. Whole world knows that people of Doda are pro-NC and Congress did its best to change their loyalties. May be for time being it helped them but in the long run they will fail,” he said.
The NC leader demanded a probe into the allegations of Malik. “It (stopping Malik in Doda) shouldn’t have happened. There should be a probe but before that nothing can be said,” he said.
However, Kamal said that there was some sort of politics in Malik’s decision. “I don’t doubt his intentions but why he chose the timing is a matter to be deliberated. Who stopped them and who didn’t, can’t be decided in Srinagar? It has to be probed by police and other agencies. NC doesn’t believe in such tactics,” he added.
Meanwhile, the main opposition People’s Democratic Party condemned the act of the state government. “Democratic space should be available to everybody as long as people are peaceful.
It was a humanitarian issue and should not have been politicized which the government has done”, said PDP Chief Spokesman Nayeem Akhter.
He said the stopping distribution of the relief among the earthquake victims is not in the interest of state or of peace. “The government has adopted draconian and oppressive methods. It was a noble initiative and government in fact should have helped him (Malik) but unfortunately they resorted to violence and stopped him”, Akhter added.
Senior Congress leader and MLA Inderwal Ghulam Mohammad Saroori refused to comment on the issue. “It is government and the Congress chief who can answer this. I can’t comment on the issue,” he said.
