Srinagar
Senior Congress leader and former minister Sham Lal Sharma has criticized the government over giving amnesty to stone pelters in Kashmir, accusing it of adopting double standards to appease ‘anti-nationals’.
As reported by a local news agency, Sharma has said that those being set free by the government are ‘anti-nationals’ and that the coalition partners are adopting double standards to take people of the state for a ride. He stated that when the government has been beating the trumpet of freeing more than four thousand stone pelters in Kashmir, why is it silent over withdrawing the cases of Jammu youth who protested during the Amarnath land row in the year 2008. “If the government has decided to give amnesty to the youth of Kashmir, why is it turning the blind eye over the cases of Jammu youth who protested during the Amarnath agitation in the year 2008. If the youth in Valley are freed, why not those of Jammu,” said Sharma.
The former minister in Omar Abdullah’s regime in the state accused the BJP of playing the politics of deceit and said that its leaders are confused and lost. “At first, this BJP slammed Hurriyat Conference and now is asking it to come forward for talks. It is now even going to the jails to talk to militants. This is utter confusion and reflection of the fact that the state is in the wrong hands.”
Sharma, guarded in his words stated that the government has to ponder whether the situation witnessed any betterment in the past when it freed the stone pelters or it got worse after such an exercise. “I can only say that the youth in Jammu are being coerced to the wall,” Sharma said.
