KL Desk
Jammu
Cautioning against a complete collapse of democratic system, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Sunday said governance in the state has been reduced to containment of anger through repression.
Addressing a party workers meet in Jammu, Mufti said that state government is isolated from the people and has lost its political character and moral authority to govern.
“Government is unable to think beyond curfew, guns, chilli bombs and large scale arrests as the only options and is closing the doors of a democratic engagement. It wants to run the legislature without even a reference to the reign of terror and repression it has let loose on people, and we did not want to be part of that charade,” he told party workers.
The former chief minister of the state said assembly was the ultimate authority in a democratic system and it should be free to discuss all issues which concern the people, but, he said, the present coalition had held it hostage to its petty partisan interests just to ensure its survival.
“The assembly has been turned into a mock house with government instead of getting worried by opposition boycott feeling relieved at what it considers as a good riddance,” he said while maintaining that this attitude could have disastrous implications for the state.
Referring to the decision of his party to stay away from the proceedings of legislature for the rest of the current session, Mufti said the house had been prevented from undertaking any meaningful discussion that could have helped in finding a way to respond to people’s concerns. “We did not want to be part of a process of demolition of democratic institutions in the revival of which we had contributed substantially in the past years,” Mufti said.
“The people would get completely disillusioned with the highest democratic forum by witnessing the most undesirable sight of a government pleading helplessness before its own forces and an opposition not allowed to raise issues and jointly finding solutions to them.”
He said an extraordinary situation has arisen in the state in the wake of Afzal Guru’s thoughtless hanging which most people view as avoidable, but neither the government nor the legislature have been able to respond to it adequately.
He said his party would continue to strive for mobilisation of public opinion so that the state could revert to the path of peace, dignity and development that had been charted after 2002 elections.
“The political parties will have to remain accountable to the people who vote them into power and that alone could ensure public welfare,” he told his party cadres.
