KL Report
SRINAGAR
Expressing dismay over the reported decision of the speaker of the Legislative Assembly to ‘send a letter’ instead of summoning Retired General V K Singh , PDP Friday said this is breach of Speaker’s own ruling in the house on the subject.
As per a statement the party president Mehbooba Mufti said the U-turn by the speaker on this sensitive subject has in no way added to the prestige of the house, the restoration of which was the focus of the discussion on Singh’s expose about the pay offs to politicians.
Mehbooba said the speaker has clearly followed NC’s traditional double speak and has tried to pursue the party dictate rather than implement his own ruling or respect the sentiment of the house and the sense of the discussion that took place in the legislature. She said the speaker’s decision exposes the lack of political will in the ruling party to uphold the sanctity of the democratic institutions or the political class of the state.
Mehbooba said the inability of the NC and the authorities associated with it to stand by the interests of the state and make compromises for petty political interests has been a major reason for the problems of the state one of which is the fact that the politicians in the state have been treated as a commodity who can be sold and bought. The speaker’s decision represents in a way the entire history of the U-turns of NC since 1947 and unfortunately this time the prestige of the state legislature has been further eroded when the effort was to retrieve it.
Reiterating her party’s demand that General Singh be summoned before the bar of the house to know the truth about his statements which have severely damaged the credibility of the representatives of the people, Mehbooba said heavens would not fall if a former General was asked to appear before the highest seat of democracy in a country where nobody is regarded above law and where even the prime minister has offered himself for investigation. The speaker’s decision, she said has further reduced the writ of the democracy in the state and it has exposed the real intentions of NC which only played to galleries for a few days and made noises to hoodwink the people.
