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| Handwara aftermath: Naeem Akhter adds to woes of Govt | | | Hyder Ali
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Apr 17: Even as the state Government is facing challenges in restoring normalcy in the wake of Handwara incident, the chronic silence maintained by Government spokesman, NaeemAkhter who is also a Minister has only added to the problem.
With the government spokesman having lost his voice, some of the "immature faces" within the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), who are unable to explain government stand, have been issuing statements exaggerating the extent of damage rather than containing it.
Social networks are flooded with public criticism to some recent statements issued by PDP leaders. In the prevailing situation, eyebrows are being raised over Akhter, whose is being termed "fair weather friend" of the government. Leave aside others, even his party colleagues are calling him "fair weather spokesman" who is unable to tackle challenging situations.
While Akhter continues to be the spokesman in the second innings of the PDP-BJP alliance, observers said since last year, he has been conspicuous for speaking to media only when some achievement is to be announced or celebrated.
The argument holds weight as Akhter was seen calling press conferences, or responding to media calls mostly when the government had to announce positive decisions taken in the Cabinet meetings.
"Otherwise, he is silent and avoids taking calls from media persons during situations when a controversy erupts," said a political analyst.
In the present regime, Naeem formally spoke to media only to highlight achievement of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's maiden cabinet meeting.
But in the wake of controversy over civilian killings in Handwara, he remained silent leaving enough space for people to make speculations. Observers said it was much against the convention of governance in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the spokesperson is duty bound to address media to clear the air.
"During such situations, the government has to come up with regular briefings where media poses questions so that a clear cut picture is put before the people," the observers said.
"But presently neither he is speaking anything, nor is allowing the administration to comment over the issue," said an official.
"Even last year when some controversies erupted over issues like establishment of AIIMS, delay in construction of artificial lake in Jammu and imposition of 'Jaziya', the government spokesman remained silent, which only worsened the aspirations of the people towards the government," said a senior politician.
A representative of the J&K Teachers Forum alleged that last year when the government teachers often took to streets against government policies, Akhter didn't even clear his stand on the controversies though he was the concerned minister. "It seems to be case of chronic silence, which breaks only to announce some achievement. But this is against the interests of any government as a spokesman should be witty enough to defend the government and convincingly clarify its stand on various issues, particularly during tough situations" a politician said. |
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