KL Report

Srinagar

Chairman Peoples Conference Sajad Gani Lone has expressed anguish and sorrow over the killing of Tahir Ahmed who was shot in the head by an Army patrol party in Baramulla yesterday. Sajad Lone has expressed his condolences with the bereaved family and prayed for their strength and peace for the departed soul.

According to statement issued to KNS, stating Tahir’s death as another addition to the list of murders committed by the security forces under the patronage of the State Government, Sajad has said that, discounting the Chief Minister’s theatrics in the assembly as a stunt to feign empathy, the buck stops with the State Government. The State Government cannot shy away from its complicity in the political decision of its ally to hang Afzal Guru and has since unleashed a reign of terror and siege in the Valley. The killing in Baramulla yesterday is yet another instance when the security forces have mocked at the stentorian rhetoric of the Omar Abdullah government on human rights. The State Government’s weak stature and its conspicuous lack of political courage has resulted in a situation of helplessness and misery for the people of the State who find themselves stolen of a voice to stand up for their dignity and their rights. On the contrary, a government that they elected has gone beyond its call of duty to barter the lives of its people for unconditional power and has now become the biggest oppressor of Kashmiris. It seems the State Government comes last in a three-tier political structure led by the security forces and the State Police apparatus. One wonders, at this juncture, if the Chief Minister in fact takes orders from the Police and Security Forces leadership.

Expressing amusement at Omar Abdullah’s admission of helplessness over Delhi’s reluctance to repeal AFSPA from the State, Sajad Lone said that Omar Abdullah is in fact a proponent of AFSPA as has become quite evident from the draft J&K Police Bill that has been envisaged by the State Government. The Police Bill is nothing but an extension of AFSPA to the functions of the State Police. This double-role of asking for the revocation of AFSPA on one hand and working secretly to incorporate AFSPA into the State’s laws on the other hand is just a recent exhibition of NC’s chronic duplicity towards Kashmiris. The Omar Abdullah government has ordered a virtual siege of the Kashmir Valley and is, while ignoring the lessons of 2010, yet again pushing Kashmiris to the wall. Dramatic performances in the Assembly cannot change Omar Abdullah government’s commitment to skin, flog and kill Kashmiris. The Chief Minister’s remarks about his resignation merit a hearty laugh as he chose to stick to his chair when the decision to hang Afzal Guru was conveyed to him. The Chief Minster chose not to oppose that decision and rather assured the Home Minister that he would mobilize the State machinery to quell any public anger and sorrow.

Sajad Lone has also expressed deep concern for the health of those youth who were injured in Baramulla yesterday and has said that the boys were playing cricket when the Army patrol opened fire on them resulting in Tahir’s death. The National Conference led State Government has nothing to offer to the youth of Kashmir other than bullets and coffins and their lust for power takes precedence over the safety and sanctity of Kashmiri lives.

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