SRINAGAR: Former Congress minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz has criticised the mainstream political class for not attempting to pay their homage to the July 13 martyrs at the Martyrs Cemetery. People, he said, do not support the “alibi” that they were actually prevented from going to the cemetery and paying their respects.
“I have a feeling that it is a wrong attitude on the part of Kashmir’s political mainstream class to say that it was not given permission by the administration to pay homage to Martyrs at Khawaja Bazar shrine, Srinagar, on 13th July,” Soz said in a statement. “The people, at large, do not support Kashmir political mainstream that it was prevented from paying a tribute to Martyrs at Khawaja Bazar, Srinagar! There is no evidence on the ground to suggest that such an event occurred.”
The Kashmir political mainstream, mostly the PAGD and the two parties outside its fold had stated that they were prevented from visiting the graveyard on July 13.
“The knowledgeable people said that Kashmir mainstream wanted to find an alibi (pretext) for not doing their duty to the people. The concerned citizens said, “then, a day will come when these people (Kashmir Political Mainstream) will say, they could not visit Makhdoom Sahib Shrine or any other shrine as there was no permission available,” the statement added. “These concerned citizens rejected the alibi (pretext) and emphasized that, unfortunately, the people of Kashmir have fallen to very bad times.” He said the attitude does not “auger well for the future”.
