KL Report
Srinagar
Terming the two day visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Jammu and Kashmir as a mere ‘eyewash, President Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) and MLA Langate, Engineer Abdul Rashid, said that the state had yielded nothing constructive regarding the political
issues of Kashmir.
“Instead of offering economic packages to the people of Kashmir, the Prime Minister should have addressed the Kashmir issue,” said Rashid.
“Throughout the visit, the PM didn’t even utter a single word regarding the political issues of the state. It was felt that after Afzal Guru’s execution he would accept Kashmir issue as a dispute and would talk about the internal dimension of the Kashmir issue,” he added.
Rashid said that the PM’s visit instead of providing relief to the Kashmiri nation had increased their sufferings by leading to loss of crores of rupees due to the strict restrictions.
“The prime minister has said the Kashmir was like an island and cutoff due to the lack of railway links, but in reality this region is like a prison and will remain so until the aspirations of Kashmiris are met,” he said.
Lashing out at National Conference (NC) , People Democratic Party (PDP) and other mainstream political parties, Rashid said that both these parties have been exposed by playing a ‘criminal role’ as they have not conveyed their agenda to the prime minister about which they have been making tall claims in the state assembly.
“It was humiliation for the entire Kashmiri nation when the Chief Minister said that state couldn’t survive without UPA and demanded return of Dulhasti power project. Our chief Minister has not even the authority to pass a resolution regarding the return of power projects from NHPC. It seems that Omar Abdullah had no authority and he was trying to provehimself loyal to UPA by commenting about BJP,” he said.
“Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were claiming that letters had been sent to Prime Minster seeking the return of Afzal Guru’s body but why didn’t they raise the issue with the PM during his visit. It implies either they have not sent these letters and were befooling the Kashmiri nation or they were just trying to please Prime minister by keeping silent,” he said.
Regarding his house arrest on Tuesday, he said it was against the democratic set up to disallow the public representative from meeting the Prime Minister.
“I received an invitation from the state government to attend the PM’s address at Banihal and Kishtawar, but later on the same government put me under house arrest. The government is deliberately trying to suppress my voice by adopting several techniques,” Er.Rashid said.
Commenting on the recent statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the hanging of Afzal Guru in State legislative assembly Rashid said that National Conference misled the people of state in the assembly.
Hitting hard at opposition Peoples Democratic Party for not meeting Prime Minister , Rashid said that it was an opportunity for PDP to represent the sentiments of the people of Kashmir and it was the right time for PDP to ask PM regarding the letter they had written to PM for the returning of Afzal Guru mortal remains.
